BACKGROUND DNA melting analysis for genotyping and mutation scanning of PCR products by use of high-resolution instruments with special "saturation" dyes has recently been reported. The comparative performance of other instruments and dyes has not been evaluated. METHODS A 110-bp fragment of the beta-globin gene including the sickle cell anemia locus (A17T) was amplified by PCR in the presenc...

S U M M A R Y Under extreme conditions like those encountered during earthquake slip, frictional melt is likely to occur. It has been observed on ancient faults that the melt is mostly extruded toward local extensional jogs or lateral tension cracks. In the case of laboratory experiments with a rotary shear apparatus, melt is extruded from the sample borders. When this happens, a thin and irreg...

Recent molecular dynamics simulation results have increased conceptual understanding of the grazing and the ploughing friction at elevated temperatures, particularly near the substrate's melting point. In this commentary we address a major constraint concerning its experimental verification.

C. WYLENZEK*, J. TRÜBENBACH†, P. GOHL†, G. WILDHARDT†, S. ALKINS‡, M. B. FAUSETT‡, J. DECKER§, D. STEINBERGER†,¶ *Hunsrueck Klinik, Simmern, Germany Bioscientia Center for Human Genetics, Ingelheim, Germany Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany §Department of Hematology and Oncology, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany –Institute for Human Genetics, Justus-Liebig Unive...

We show that there exists an Efimov-like three strand DNA bound state at the duplex melting point and it is described by a renormalization group limit cycle. A nonperturbative renormalization group is used to obtain this result in a model involving short range pairing only. Our results suggest that Efimov physics can be tested in polymeric systems.

An analytical solution shows that a competition between bond order loss and the associated bond strength gain of the lower coordinated atoms near the edge of a surface dictates the mechanics of the surface and, hence, a nanosolid. Bond order loss lowers the activation energy for atomic dislocation, whereas bond strength gain enhances the energy density or mechanical strength in the region near ...

Step-scanning calorimetric measurements using a Setaram HT1500 calorimeter were performed between 800 and 1400~ on two natural samples: a ugandite from the East African rift and an olivine basalt from the western Mexican arc. Our measurements provide the first in-situ quantitative assessment of enthalpy during melting of initially crystalline natural samples. The distribution of latent heat acr...

In vitro experiments to study interaction of the mutagenic flavonoid quercetin with DNA are described. Calf thymus DNA treated with quercetin for various time periods was subjected to S1 nuclease hydrolysis. Thermal melting profiles of treated DNA were also determined using S1 nuclease. The rate of DNA hydrolyzed after 1 hr of pretreatment with quercetin was found to be only about 50% of that i...

Melting fine structure of the nuclear DNA isolated from the filamentous fungus Fusarium graminearum Schwabe is presented. Optical melting profiles of nuclear DNA were analyzed by using a combination of curve fitting and derivative techniques. The "melting components" were obtained from the derivative curve by a simple decomposition technique. Differential optical melting curves of unsheared nuc...