Low serum salivary amylase levels have been associated with a range of metabolic abnormalities, including obesity and insulin resistance. We recently suggested that a low copy number at the AMY1 gene, associated with lower enzyme levels, also increases susceptibility to obesity. To advance our understanding of the effect of AMY1 copy number variation on metabolism, we compared the metabolomic s...

background: baculoviral inhibitor of apoptosis repeat-containing 5 (birc5) gene is an inhibitor of apoptosis that expresses in human embryonic tissues but it is absent in most healthy adult tissues. the copy number of birc5 has been indicated to be highly increased in tumor tissues; however, its association with the age of onset in breast cancer is not well understood. methods: forty tumor tiss...

Transgenic animals have been used for years to study gene function, produce important proteins, and generate models for the study of human diseases. However, inheritance and expression instability of the transgene in transgenic animals is a major limitation. Copy number and promoter methylation are known to regulate gene expression, but no report has systematically examined their effect on tran...

We have developed a simple procedure for the preparation of plant genomic DNA using FTA paper. Plant leaves were crushed against FTA paper, and the genomic DNA was purified using simple, nonorganic reagents. The 18S rRNA gene and the gene encoding the ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase large subunit (rbcL) from the chloroplast genome were detected by PCR amplification of DNA on FT...

A pair of primers was designed to amplify the propylene alcohol dehydrogenase gene sequence based on the cDNA sequence of the tobacco allyl-alcohol dehydrogenase gene. All introns were sequenced using traditional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods and T-A cloning. The sequences from common tobacco (Nicotiana tabaccum L.) and rustica tobacco (Nicotiana rustica L.) were analysed between the ...

results all eight candida species were successfully detected, identified and quantitated based on the icl gene. a seven-log range of the gene copy number and a minimum detection limit of 103 copies were achieved. conclusions a one-tube absolute quantification real-time pcr that differentiates medically important candida species via individual unique melting temperature was achieved. analytical ...

Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) has been widely used to quantify changes in gene copy numbers after radiation exposure. Here, we show that gamma irradiation ranging from 10 to 100 Gy of cells and cell-free DNA samples significantly affects the measured qPCR yield, due to radiation-induced fragmentation of the DNA template and, therefore, introduces errors into the estimation of ge...

Crithidia fasciculata cells were treated with a plasmid (pDK96) containing pBR322 sequences, a Leishmania tarentolae maxicircle autonomously replicating sequence, and the bacterial gene for aminoglycoside 3' phosphotransferase I inserted between the yeast alcohol dehydrogenase 1 promotor and terminator sequences. Resistant colonies were selected on agar plates containing paromomycin and screene...

in previous years, identification of fetal cells in maternal blood circulation has caused a new revolution in non-invasive method of prenatal diagnosis. low number of fetal cells in maternal blood and long-term survival after pregnancy limited the use of fetal cells in diagnostic and clinical applications. with the discovery of cell-free fetal dna (cffdna) in plasma of pregnant women, access to...

The determination of nuclear DNA sequences from ancient remains would open many novel opportunities such as the resolution of phylogenies, the sexing of hominid and animal remains, and the characterization of genes involved in phenotypic traits. However, to date, single-copy nuclear DNA sequences from fossils have been determined only from bones and teeth of woolly mammoths preserved in the per...