Simple repeated sequences in human satellite DNA.

In an extensive analysis, using a range of restriction endonucleases, HinfI and TaqI were found to differentiate satellites I, II and III & IV. Satellite I is resistant to digestion by TaqI, but is cleaved by HinfI to yield three major fragments of approximate size 770, 850 and 950bp, associated in a single length of DNA. The 770bp fragment contains recognition sites for a number of other enzymes, whereas the 850 and 950bp fragments are "silent" by restriction enzyme analysis. Satellite II is digested by HinfI into a large number of very small (10-80bp) fragments, many of which also contain TaqI sites. A proportion of the HinfI sites in satellite II have the sequence 5'GA(GC)TC. The HinfI digestion products of satellites III and IV form a complete ladder, stretching from 15bp or less to more than 250bp, with adjacent multimers separated by an increment of 5bp. The ladder fragments do not contain TaqI sites and all HinfI sites have the sequence 5'GA(AT)TC. Three fragments from the HinfI ladder of satellite III have been sequenced, and all consist of a tandemly repeated 5bp sequence, 5'TTCCA, with a non-repeated, G+C rich sequence, 9bp in length, at the 3' end.     

Structural organization of the mitochondrial DNA control region in Aedes aegypti.

The complete A+T - rich region of Aedes aegypti mitochondrial DNA has been cloned and sequenced. In Argentinean populations of the species, a polymorphism in the length of the amplified fragment was observed. Nucleotide sequence comparison of the shortest and longest A+T - rich amplified fragments detected revealed the presence of 2 types of tandemly repeated blocks. The size variation observed in natural populations is mainly due to the presence of a variable number of a 181 bp tandem repeat unit, located toward the 12S rRNA gene end. The size of the longest A+T - rich region was of 2070 bp, representing the largest control sequence reported for any mosquito species. Few relevant short blocks of primary-sequence similarity conserved in the control region of mosquitoes and other insects were detected scattered throughout the whole region. Five putative stem-loop secondary structures were found, one of them flanked by conserved sequences described in other insects. Our results suggest that there are no universal models of structure-function relations in the control region of insect mtDNA. In addition, we identified a short A+T - rich variable segment in the Ae. aegyti control region that would be suitable for population genetic studies.     

Isolation and characterization of adenovirus core nucleoprotein subunits.

Digestion of adenovirus type 2 (Ad2) or Ad5 cores with micrococcal nuclease generated four nucleoprotein species that could be resolved by electrophoresis in low-ionic-strength polyacrylamide gels: these nucleoproteins displayed mobilities equivalent to those of DNA fragments of 900 to 1,025, 775 to 850, 650 to 725, and 525 to 600 base pairs (bp) and thus were readily distinguishable from HeLa cell mononucleosomes. The DNA fragments associated with the core nucleoprotein species were more than 250 to 90 bp long. Nucleoproteins containing 150, 120, or 90 bp of DNA were the most stable. Polypeptide VII was associated with each of the nucleoprotein species liberated from Ad2 cores. These data suggest that polypeptide VII and viral DNA of 90 to 150 bp comprise the unit particle of the Ad2 or Ad5 core nucleoproteins.     

系统性红斑狼疮(SLE)患者血清免疫复合物中DNA的提取及电镜观察

从活动期SLE患者血清DNA/抗-DNA免疫复合物中分离DNA,用电镜观察结果表明:这些DNA是很不均质的双链片段。它们的分子量范围很宽,镜下可见的最小片段长553A(约150bp),最大片段长10431A(约2800bp),多数DNA片段长约200—400bp,与正常对照相比较有明显区别。另外,还观察到具有单链末端的双链DNA片段。     

The 1360 bp long basic repeat unit of calf satellite I DNA contains GC rich nucleus of about 140 bp.

Fine melting profiles of calf satellite I DNA and its fragments obtained after digestion with endoR.EcoRI and endoR.AluI nucleases were investigated. It is shown that the 1360 bp basic repeat unit of calf satellite I DNA contains an about 140 bp long GC rich nucleus. It is localized on the 600 bp restriction fragment obtained after digestion of 1360 bp fragment with endoR.AluI nuclease. The main part of satellite I DNA melts as loops between such GC rich nuclei which strongly influence the melting properties of this satellite. There exist significant differences between the thermal stabilities of fragments containing many nuclei, one nucleus and those in which such nucleus is absent.     

Design of Mini‐barcode for Catfishes for assessment of archival biodiversity

Recovery of DNA barcode sequences is often challenging from the archived specimens. However, short fragments of DNA may be recovered, which would significantly improve many unresolved taxonomic conflicts. Here, we designed a mini‐barcode for catfishes comprising several species and many cryptic taxa. We analysed a data set of 3048 publicly available COI barcode sequences representing 547 worldwide catfish species and performed 152 628 interspecies comparisons. A significantly more positively correlated interspecies distance was detected with transversion (0.78, P < 0.001) than with transition (0.70, P < 0.001). This suggested that transversions were better diagnostics for species identification. In the aligned data set, two transversion‐rich fragments (53 bp and 119 bp) were identified. Transition/transversion bias value was 1.04 in 53‐bp fragment, 1.23 in 119‐bp fragment and 1.50 in full‐length barcode. The interspecies distance with full‐length barcode was 0.212 ± 0.037, while that with 53‐bp and 119‐bp fragments was 0.325 ± 0.039 and 0.218 ± 0.045, respectively. Survey of 53‐bp fragment showed a possibility of only 1144 barcodes, while that of 119‐bp fragment showed >4 million barcodes. Thus, the 119‐bp fragment is a viable mini‐barcode for catfishes comprising >3000 extant species. Experiment with 82 archived catfishes showed successful recovery of this mini‐barcode using the designed primer. The mini‐barcode sequences showed species‐specific similarity in the range of 98‐100% with the global database. Therefore, survey of a transversion‐rich fragment within the full‐length barcode would be an ideal approach of mini‐barcode design for biodiversity assessment.     

Alterations in the adenine-plus-thymine-rich region of CEN3 affect centromere function in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Centromere DNA from 11 of the 16 chromosomes of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been analyzed and reveal three sequence elements common to each centromere, referred to as conserved centromere DNA elements (CDE). The adenine-plus-thymine (A + T)-rich central core element, CDE II, is flanked by two short conserved sequences, CDE I (8 base pairs [bp]) and CDE III (25 bp). Although no consensus sequence exists among the different CDE II regions, they do have three common features of sequence organization. First, the CDE II regions are similar in length, ranging from 78 to 86 bp measured from CDE I to the left boundary of CDE III. Second, the base composition is always greater than 90% A + T. Finally, the A and T residues in these segments are often arranged in runs of A and runs of T residues, sometimes with six or seven bases in a stretch. We constructed insertion, deletion, and replacement mutations in the CDE II region of the centromere from chromosome III, CEN3, designed to investigate the length and sequence requirements for function of the CDE II region of the centromere. We analyzed the effect of these altered centromeres on plasmid and chromosome segregation in S. cerevisiae. Our results show that increasing the length of CDE II from 84 to 154 bp causes a 100-fold increase in chromosome nondisjunction. Deletion mutations removing segments of the A + T-rich CDE II DNA also cause aberrant segregation. In some cases partial function could be restored by replacing the deleted DNA with fragments whose primary sequence or base composition is very different from that of the wild-type CDE II DNA. In addition, we found that identical mutations introduced into different positions in CDE II have very similar effects.     

暗纹东方鲀线粒体基因组核苷酸全序列测定与分析

以暗纹东方鲀(Takifugu fasciatus)肝的线粒体DNA为模板,参照红鳍东方鲀(T.rubripes)等近源鱼类的线粒体基因组DNA序列,设计合成14对特异引物,进行PCR扩增并测序,首次获得了暗纹东方鲀线粒体基因组全序列。结果表明,暗纹东方鲀线粒体基因组序列全长16 444 bp(GenBank登录号为GQ409967),A+T含量为55.8%,其mtDNA结构与其他脊椎动物相似,由22个tRNA基因、2个rRNA基因、13个蛋白质编码基因和1段819 bp非编码的控制区(D-loop)所组成。蛋白质基因除COⅠ和ND6的起始密码子为GTG、CCT以外,均为典型的起始密码子ATG。ND1、ATPase8、COⅢ、ND4L、ND5、Cyt b使用典型的终止密码子TAA,其他的使用不完全终止密码子。除ND6和tRNAGln、tRNAAla、tRNAAsn、tRNACys、tRNATyr、tRNASer、tRNAGlu、tRNAPro在L-链上编码之外,其余基因均在H-链编码。基因排列顺序与已测定的鲀类一致,这显示了鲀类线粒体基因排列顺序上的保守性。tRNA基因核苷酸长度为64～73nt,预测了22个tRNA基因的二级结构,均呈较为典型的三叶草状。基于19种鲀类mtDNA全序列构建的进化树表明,暗纹东方鲀与红鳍东方鲀、中华东方鲀(T.chinensis)聚成一个姊妹群。结果还支持东方鲀属鱼类为一单系类群。     

Linkage in human heterochromatin between highly divergent Sau3A repeats and a new family of repeated DNA sequences (HaeIII family)

The hybridization of human DNA with three non-cross-hybridizing monomers (68 bp in length) of the heterochromatic Sau3A family of DNA repeats, indicates the coexistence within a Sau3A-positive genomic block of divergent Sau3A units as well as of unrelated sequences. To gain some insight into the structure of these human heterochromatic DNA regions, three previously cloned Sau3A-positive genomic fragments (with a total length of approximately 1900 base-pairs (bp] were sequenced. The analysis of the sequences showed the presence of clustered Sau3A units with different degrees of divergence and of two DNA regions of approximately 100 bp and 291 bp in length, unrelated to the family of repeats. A consensus sequence derived from the 24 identified Sau3A monomers presents, among highly variable regions, two less variant regions of 8 bp and 10 bp in length, respectively. The Sau3A-unrelated DNA fragment 291 bp in length, used as a probe on genomic DNA digested with a series of restriction enzymes, defines a "new" family of DNA repeats possessing periodicities for HaeIII (HaeIII family). Sau3A and HaeIII repeats display a high degree of linkage in a collection of Sau3A-positive genomic recombinant phages.     

DNA binding and nuclease protection by the HMf histones from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Methanothermus fervidus

The DNA-binding and nuclease-protection properties of the HMf histones from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Methanothermus fervidus have been shown to be consistent with the formation of nucleosome-like structures (NLS). These proteins bind to DNA molecules as short as 20 bp and form complexes that protect DNA fragments from micrococcal nuclease (MNase) digestion that are 30 bp, ∼ 60 bp and multiples of ∼ 60 bp in length. The sequences of 49 of the ∼ 60-bp DNA fragments protected from MNase digestion by HMfA have been determined and their intrinsic curvatures calculated. A circular permutation gel mobility-shift assay was used to determine directly the curvatures for five of these sequences. HMfA bound to intrinsically curved and noncurved DNAs, but exhibited a slight preference for the model curved DNA in binding competitions with a model noncurved DNA. The results obtained are consistent with the concept that the archaeal NLS is analogous, and possibly homologous, to the central core of the eukaryal nucleosome formed by a histone (H3 + H4)2 tetramer. Received: August 11, 1996 / Accepted: November 12, 1996     

Structural organization of mouse rDNA: Comparison of transcribed and non-transcribed regions

Summary The DNA of the recombinant phage gtWES Mr974 (Grummt et al., 1979) which contains the 18S region and adjacent spacer sequences of the ribosomal genes from mouse has been digested with the restriction endonuclease Sall. Fragments corresponding to the non-transcribed spacer (A and D) and the external transcribed spacer (B) have been prepared and their nucleotide composition and sequence organization has been determined. The data indicate that the part of the non-transcribed spacer contained in Mr974 consists of at least two structural domains of distinct sequence characteristics. Fragment A contains 49% G+C and exhibits a high sequence complexity. Fragment D, the spacer fragment flanking the coding region, is very rich in G+C and is obviously composed of an internally repetitive sequence which is cut by several restriction enzymes into a similar set of repetitive fragments. Most of the fragments have sizes that are multiples of 60 and 80 or 140 base pairs, respectively, suggesting an alternating 60/80bp arrangement. This regular sequence in fragment D accounts both for the observed instability and length heterogeneity of the rDNA insert in several clones and probably for the heterogeneity in the structure of the ribosomal repeats in the genomic DNA.     

Hela细胞端粒DNA断裂损伤

Telomeres are the repetitive G-rich DNA sequences at the end of chromosomes and shorten at each round of cell division.Besides the incomplete DNA synthesis,single and double DNA strand breaks,if not repaired, also contribute to the telomere shortening.To assess the frequency of strand breaks in proliferating Hela cells,telomere fragments were released by alkaline denaturing and electrophoresis from cells embedded in agarose,blotted onto membrane,and detected by probe specific to telomere sequence.The quantity of telomere fragments released was estimated to be less than 0.4% of the total telomere content,which corresponded to less than one break per cell.Since the mean length of the terminal restriction fragments of the cells was about 7 kbp,the fragments detected would lead to less than 19 bp in mean telomere shortening [Acta Zoologica Sinica 49(6):873-877,2003].     

Mitochondrial genome sequence of the shining catfish (Pelteobagrus nitidus)

The complete mitochondrial DNA sequence of Pelteobagrus nitidus was determined using a PCR-based method. The total length of mitochondrial DNA is 16,532 bp. The contents of the P. nitidus mitochondrial genome are 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA and 22 transfer RNA genes, and a non-coding control region. Base composition of the entire genome is A 31.72%, T 26.92%, C 26.45%, and G 14.91%, with an A+T (58.64%) rich feature as that of other vertebrate mitochondrial genome.     

Influence of fragment size on DNA quantitation using DNA-binding proteins and a sensor-based analytical system: applications in the testing of biological products.

A novel immunoassay system which rapidly quantifies picogram levels of total DNA was characterized with respect to the effects of DNA length. Nine chromatographically purified HaeIII restriction fragments of phi X174 were tested. Assay performance was found to be dependent on both the amount and length of DNA present in the sample. DNA fragments longer than 100 base pairs (bp) could be quantitatively detected with this system. Fragments shorter than 100 bp inhibited assay performance and thus could be detected through the use of inhibition studies; however, only qualitative information could be obtained. DNA fragments approximately 10 nucleotides in length had no apparent effect on assay performance. The size of the binding site (number of bases) required for each DNA-binding protein to bind to a nucleic acid fragment is suggested as an explanation for the observed influence of DNA size on assay performance. The total DNA assay was used in conjunction with a Pharmacia FPLC system to characterize the size distribution and amount of DNA in two partially purified biopharmaceutical samples. The results indicate that the majority of residual DNA in these samples is less than 600 bp in length. This technique can be used to rapidly determine the DNA size distribution in an in-process or final product biopharmaceutical sample. This data can then be used in process design and optimization for removal of residual DNA in biological products.     

Detection of Nitrosomonas spp. by polymerase chain reaction

Abstract A unique genomic DNA fragment was isolated from Nitrosomonas europaea ATCC 19718. Based on the sequence of this fragment, oligonucleotide primers for polymerase chain reaction amplification were prepared which amplify sequences of 775 and 658 bp. The predicted DNA fragments were both amplified from the genome of N. europaea and a Nitrosomonas spp. isolated from a local oxidation pond. The primers failed to amplify DNA from the genomes of the ammonia oxidiser Nitrosolobous multiformis , the nitrite oxidiser Nitrococcus mobilis as well as from the genomes of other unrelated heterotrophic bacteria. These DNA sequences could be amplified from 0.01 ng of N. europaea genomic DNA or from 100 intact cells, and it was possible to detect Nitrosomonas DNA in a DNA mixture extracted from water samples drawn from a local oxidation pond.     

大肠杆菌原核增强子样序列的克隆及其结构与功能的研究

利用氯霉素乙酰转移酶(cat)以及β-半乳糖苷酶(lacZ)基因作为报告基因,从大肠杆菌MC1061株染色体基因组中克隆到3个原核增强子样序列——MC2,MC8,MC9,这3个片段均具有正反向增强活性,对β-半乳糖苷酶基因的增强活性(正向)在2～5.5倍之间。采用体内转录,RNA Dot blot杂交的方法对MC8的功能进行了研究,结果表明,MC8片段对于基因表达的调控发生在转录水平上。用核酸外切酶III末端缺失的方法对MC8的功能区进行了定位。结果显示,MC8的功能区位于距其正向克隆5′端450～950bp长约500bp的区段内。在450～600bp以及840～950bp区段内至少分别含有一个功能位点。序列分析的结果表明,MC8功能区有3个AT丰富区,其中2个分别位于450～600bp以及840～950bp区段内。     

Ancient DNA fragments longer than 300 bp

It is widely assumed that ancient DNA (aDNA) extracts contain no authentic templates longer than 300 bp. Here we present results which show that fragments of up to 800 bp in length can be reproducibly amplified from aDNA extracts. The amplification involves the short tandem repeat (STR) locus HUMVWA31A. Authentication of the amplified fragments is carried out by measures of expectancy.     

Trajectory of nucleosomal linker DNA studied by fluorescence resonance energy transfer

While the structure of the nucleosome core is known in atomic detail, the precise geometry of the DNA beyond the core particle is still unknown. We have used fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) for determining the end-to-end distance of DNA fragments assembled with histones into nucleosomes. The DNA of a length of 150-220 bp was labeled with rhodamine-X on one end and fluorescein or Alexa 488 on the other. Assembling nucleosomes on these DNA fragments leads to a measurable energy transfer. The end-to-end distance computed from the FRET increases from 60 +/- 5 A at 150 bp to 75 +/- 5 A at 170 bp without measurable change above it. These distances are compatible with different geometries of the linker DNA, all having in common that no crossing can be observed up to 220 bp. Addition of H1 histone leads to an increase in energy transfer, indicating a compaction of the linker DNA toward the nucleosome.