A procedure is described that permits the use of radiotracer methods for examining crown gall tumors in the presence of the initiating agent Agrobacterium tumefaciens. On the basis of sensitivity testing using the disc diffusion technique and the minimum inhibitory concentration procedure and incorporation of radioactive phosphorus into nucleic acids, it was determined that A. tumefaciens was m...

In contrast to the approach commonly taken by chemists, nature controls chemical reactivity by modulating the effective molarity of highly dilute reactants through macromolecule-templated synthesis. Nature's approach enables complex mixtures in a single solution to react with efficiencies and selectivities that cannot be achieved in conventional laboratory synthesis. DNA-templated organic synth...

The templated synthesis of nucleic acids has previously been achieved through the backbone ligation of preformed nucleotide monomers or oligomers. In contrast, here we demonstrate templated nucleic acid synthesis using a base-filling approach in which individual bases are added to abasic sites of a peptide nucleic acid (PNA). Because nucleobase substrates in this approach are not self-reactive,...

BACKGROUND The real-time monitoring of polynucleotide amplification is at the core of most molecular assays. This conventionally relies on fluorescent detection of the amplicon produced, requiring complex and costly hardware, often restricting it to specialised laboratories. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Here we report the first real-time, closed-tube luminescent reporter system for nucleic acid amplifi...

COMMUNICATION Andreas Herrmann et al. Synthesis of DNA block copolymers with extended nucleic acid segments by enzymatic ligation: cut and paste large hybrid architectures

The addition of fractionated hetcrologous histone to the in cubation medium reduced DNA and RNA synthesis in intact 6C3HED ascites tumor cells of mice and in spleen cells from nontumor-bearing mice. Acid-soluble phosphorus and acidsoluble nucleotide phosphorus specific activities were not affected by added histone, but electron microscopy revealed cellular changes which suggested some loss of v...

Novel methods were developed to isothermally detect target nucleic acids and initiate signal amplification cascades. The methods utilize target-specific MNAzymes to activate universal primer molecules. These primers can subsequently promote the autonomous synthesis of DNAzymes capable of cleaving nucleic acid substrates and generating signal, which further creates the potential for circular fee...

This article deals with our recent studies on the synthesis of BNAs (Bridged Nucleic Acids), novel nucleic acid analogs bearing a preorganized sugar conformation by a bridged structure. Duplex- and triplex-forming abilities of the BNA modified oligonucleotides are also described.