We report here the use of a specific beta-galactosidase staining assay and Northern blotting technique to examine the expression of three genes encoding either antibacterial peptides (diptericin, cecropin A) or an antifungal peptide (drosomycin) in Drosophila following infection by larval and pupal parasitoids. The results show that the genes encoding these peptides are either not induced or mi...

Human and mouse genome sequences contain roughly 100,000 regions that are unalignable in primary sequence and neighbor corresponding alignable regions between both organisms. These pairs are generally assumed to be nonconserved, although the level of structural conservation between these has never been investigated. Owing to the limitations in computational methods, comparative genomics has bee...

It has been demonstrated that shortened forms of (stem II-deleted) hammerhead ribozymes with low intrinsic activity form very active dimers with a common stem II (very active short ribozymes capable of forming dimers were designated maxizymes). Intracellular activities of heterodimeric maxizymes and conventional ribozymes, under the control of a human tRNAVal-promoter, were compared against the...

In transcription initiation, all RNA polymerase molecules bound to a promoter have been conventionally supposed to proceed into elongation of transcript. However, for Escherichia coli RNA polymerase, evidence has been accumulated for a view that only its fraction can proceed into elongation and the rest is retained at a promoter in non-productive form: a pathway branching in transcription initi...

BACKGROUND The Northern Territory has the highest rates of perinatal morbidity and mortality in Australia. Placental histopathology has not been studied in this high-risk group of women. METHODS This is the first study to detail the placental pathology in Indigenous women and to compare the findings with non-Indigenous women in the Northern Territory. There were a total of 269 deliveries duri...

Following its invention 25 years ago, PCR has been adapted for numerous molecular biology applications. Gene expression analysis by reverse-transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) has been a key enabling technology of the post-genome era. Since the founding of BioTechniques, this journal has been a resource for the improvements in qPCR technology, experimental design, and data analysis. qPCR a...

The nucleic acid hybridization is the process wherein two DNA or RNA single chains (mono-stranded) from different biological sources, make the double catenary configuration, based on contingent sequence homology of the two sources, resulting DNA-DNA, RNA-RNA or DNA-RNA hybrids. The purpose is identification or localization of certain nucleic acid sequences (genes) in the genome of some species....

A simple and fast RNA gel blot procedure is described that uses 50 mM NaOH to simultaneously transfer and fix RNA to a positively charged nylon membrane. The RNA is transferred in a downward direction, and transfer is routinely completed within 2.5 h. The resulting blots give increased sensitivity over existing methods without affecting RNA integrity and can be used in both radioactive and nonr...

Mutations induced in Drosophila spermatozoa at the alcohol dehydrogenase Adh locus by 1-ethyl-1-nitrosourea (ENU) were compared to X-ray-induced mutations using genetic tests for complementation, southern blotting, western blotting and northern blotting. 8 of 10 ENU-induced mutations complemented all known adjacent loci and were presumed to be intragenic. In contrast, 8 of 30 X-ray-induced muta...

To identify genes involved in the melanocyte to malignant melanoma conversion, we have applied differential display to the comparison of syngeneic murine B16F10 (metastatic melanoma) and Melan-a-immortalized melanocyte cell lines. Approximately 7000 bands were analyzed, revealing approximately 80 to be differentially displayed. Reverse Northern blotting and subsequent Northern blotting confirme...