DNA breaks occur during many processes in mammalian cells, including recombination, repair, mutagenesis and apoptosis. Here we report a simple and rapid method for assaying DNA breaks and identifying DNA breaksites. Breaksites are first tagged and amplified by ligation-mediated PCR (LM-PCR), using nested PCR primers to increase the specificity and sensitivity of amplification. Breaksites are th...

Yeasts are emerging as important etiological agents of nosocomial bloodstream infections. A multiplex PCR method was developed to rapidly identify clinically important yeasts that cause fungemia. The method amplified the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) region between the 18S and 5.8S rRNA genes and a specific DNA fragment within the ITS2 region of Candida albicans. With this method, C. alb...

PCR is recognized as a promising method for the detection of Helicobacter pylori in gastric biopsy specimens. However, detection of PCR products by gel electrophoresis is difficult to implement in routine clinical laboratories. The aim of this study was to compare three new DNA enzyme immunoassays with the standard method in their ability to detect PCR products. The three assays were based on t...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY An efficient alternative strategy to conventional cloning was needed to generate high-quality DNA sequences from a variety of nuclear orthologs for phylogenetic studies. This method would facilitate studies and minimize technical problems typically encountered in cloning methodologies. METHODS We tested a variety of single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) protocols...

The availability and application of culture-independent tools that enable a detailed investigation of the microbiota and microbial biodiversity of food systems has had a major impact on food microbiology. This review focuses on the application of DNA-based technologies, such as denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), temporal temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TTGE), single stran...

Aim: The objective of this study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence and S7 gene characterization of bluetongue virus (BTV) of sheep in the West of Iran, during 2007-2008. Materials and Methods: A total 372 sheep blood samples were collected from known seropositive regions in the West of Iran. Anti-BTV antibodies were detected in the serum samples by group specific, C-ELISA. Extractio...

The C677T mutation of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene and the G1691A (Leiden) mutation of the factor V gene are established risk factors for thromboembolic disease. We here present an assay for the simultaneous genotyping of these common genetic variants. The assay involves a strategy based on multiplex mutagenically separated PCR performed in a single tube containing six primers. ...

BACKGROUND Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is generally regarded as a very accurate and time-saving method, but it is expensive to run. We evaluated the reliability of an inexpensive and a researcher-friendly gel electrophoresis-based PCR method for the quantification of mRNA, and the results were compared with those obtained by real-time PCR. METHODS We compared the results of rela...

Multiplex PCR amplification systems were developed using well-characterized, polymorphic short tandem repeat (STR) loci. Eight loci utilized in the multiplex amplifications included HUMCSF1PO, HUMTPOX, HUMTH01, HUMVWFA31, HUMF13A01, HUMFESFPS, HUMBFXIII and HUMLIPOL. From this list, three or four non-overlapping loci were simultaneously amplified, separated by denaturing polyacrylamide gel elec...

Background: Rapid diagnosis and differentiation of Brucella is of high importance due to the side effects of antibiotics for the treatment of brucellosis. This study aimed to identify and compare PCR-ELISA as a more accurate diagnositc test with other common molecular and serological tests. Methods: ...