BACKGROUND Genetic diversity of three polymorphic markers in the phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) gene region including PvuII (a), PAHSTR and MspI were investigated. METHODS Unrelated individuals (n=139) from the Iranian populations were genotyped using primers specific to PAH gene markers including PvuII(a), MspI and PAHSTR. The amplified products for PvuII(a), MspI were digested using the ap...

BACKGROUND Cytochrome P450 2C19 (CYP2C19) is important in metabolism of wide range of drugs. CYP2C19*17 is a novel variant allele which increases gene transcription and therefore results in ultra-rapid metabolizer phenotype (URM). Distribution of this variant allele has not been well studied worldwide. The aim of present study was to investigate allele and genotype frequencies of CYP2C19*17 in ...

BACKGROUND Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality among immunocompromised patients. Prolonged antiviral therapy is a cause of mutation and drug resistance in the HCMV genome. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to identify resistance to ganciclovir (GCV) in Iranian immunosuppressed patients at two different stages of the disease: early (before GC...

The incidence and distribution of Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and related tobamoviruses was determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay on 1,926 symptomatic horticultural crops and 107 asymptomatic weed samples collected from 78 highly infected fields in the major horticultural crop-producing areas in 17 provinces throughout Iran. The results were confirmed by host range studies and re...

OBJECTIVE(S) Coronary artery disease (CAD) which may lead to myocardial infarction (MI) is a complex one. Great effort has been devoted to identification of genes that increase susceptibility to CAD or provide protection. A 21-bp deletion in the MEF2A gene, which encodes a member of the myocyte enhancer factor 2 family of transcription factors, has been reported in patients of a single pedigree...

A new recombination operator, called Gene Pool Recombination (GPR) is introduced. In GPR, the genes are randomly picked from the gene pool defined by the selected parents. The mathematical analysis of GPR is easier than for two-parent recombination (TPR) normally used in genetic algorithms. There are n difference equations for the marginal gene frequencies that describe the evolution of a popul...

Killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) are a family of inhibitory and activating receptors that are expressed mainly by natural killer cells. The KIR gene family is highly polymorphic, and its genomic diversity is achieved through differences in gene content as well as allelic polymorphism. The number of KIR loci has been reported to be various among individuals and therefore resulting...

PURPOSE To investigate whether microRNA (MIR)-184 mutations make a substantial contribution to keratoconus (KCN) among affected Iranian patients. METHODS A total of 47 Iranian KCN patients, diagnosed based on family history, clinical examinations using slit lamp biomicroscopy, refraction and corneal topography were enrolled in this study. The pri-miR-184 encoding gene obtained from the DNAs o...

BACKGROUND Plasmodium vivax is responsible for approximately 80 million malaria cases in the world. Apical membrane antigen1 (AMA-1) is a type I integral membrane protein present in all Plasmodium species. AMA-1 interferes in critical steps of invasion of human hepatocytes by sporozoites and red blood cells by merozoites and is one of the most immunodominant antigens for eliciting a protective ...