Nucleotide variants, especially those related to epigenetic functions, provide critical regulatory information beyond simple genomic sequence, and they define cell status in higher organisms. 5-Methylcytosine, which is found in DNA, was until recently the only nucleotide variant studied in terms of epigenetics in eukaryotes. However, 5-methylcytosine has turned out to be just one component of a...

Polymorphisms in 5’-flanking region of prolactin (PRL), exon 2 and exon 5 of prolactin receptor (PRLR) genesand its association with growth and egg traits were examined in breeder hens of Mazandaran native fowlsbreeding station. A single nucleotide polymorphism at site C-2402T and a 24 bp nucleotide sequence insertionat situation -382 in 5’-flanking regions of PRL gene were id...

DNA polymorphism within diacylglycerol transferase 2 (DGAT2) / monoacyl glycerol transferases 2 (MOGAT2), leptin and butyrophilin genes were analysed using PCR-SSCP in Murrah buffalo. The single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis of amplified gene fragment in exon 5 of MOGAT2, exon 3 of leptin and intron 1 of butyrophilin gene revealed different patterns. A, B and C showed the fol...

The 5'-nucleotide of small RNAs associates directly with the MID domain of Argonaute (AGO) proteins. In humans, the identity of the 5'-base is sensed by the MID domain nucleotide specificity loop and regulates the integrity of miRNAs. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the 5'-nucleotide also controls sorting of small RNAs into the appropriate member of the AGO family; however, the structural basis for th...

Nucleotide polymerization proceeds in the forward (5'-3') direction. This tenet of the central dogma of molecular biology is found in diverse processes including transcription, reverse transcription, DNA replication, and even in lagging strand synthesis where reverse polymerization (3'-5') would present a "simpler" solution. Interestingly, reverse (3'-5') nucleotide addition is catalyzed by the...

Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are fundamental adapter components of translational machinery. tRNAs can further serve as a source of tRNA-derived noncoding RNAs that play important roles in various biological processes beyond translation. Among all species of tRNAs, tRNAHisGUG has been known to uniquely contain an additional guanosine residue at the -1 position (G-1) of its 5'-end. To analyze this -1 nu...

Recent studies on leishmania enriettii tubulin mRNAs revealed a 35 nucleotide addition to their 5' end. The gene that codes for this 35 nucleotide leader sequence has now been cloned and sequenced. In the Leishmania genome, the spliced leader gene exists as a tandem repeat of 438 bases. There are approximately 150 copies of this gene comprising 0.1% of the parasite genome. This gene codes for a...

Somatic mutations in the promoter region of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene have been identified many types cancer. The hTERT is known to be enriched with sequences that enable formation G-quadruplex (G4) structures, whose presence associated elevated mutagenicity and genome instability. Here, we used a bioinformatics tool (QGRS mapper) search for G4-forming (G4 motifs) 1000...