Most DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in S- and G2-phase cells are repaired accurately by Rad51-dependent sister chromatid recombination. However, a minority give rise to gross chromosome rearrangements (GCRs), which can result in disease/death. What determines whether a DSB is repaired accurately or inaccurately is currently unclear. We provide evidence that suggests that perturbing replication...

functional biopolymer. It has been widely used as a nanomaterial, such as DNA computer nanoinformation pits, DNA microarrays and DNA molecular conduction wires.1–3 Hence, it is important to fabricate a DNA nanoconstruction. Many research groups are attempting to fabricate DNA film, networks (monolayer), and other topological constructions. For example, the Seeman group reported the construction...

This paper focuses on the probability that a portion of DNA closes on itself through thermal fluctuations. We investigate the dependence of this probability upon the size of a protein bridge and/or the presence of a kink at half DNA length. The DNA is modeled by the wormlike chain model, and the probability of loop formation is calculated in two ways: exact numerical evaluation of the constrain...

Nonreciprocal translocations and gene amplifications are commonly found in human tumors. Although little is known about the mechanisms leading to such aberrations, tissue culture models predict that they can arise from DNA breakage, followed by cycles of chromatid fusion, asymmetric mitotic breakage, and replication. Mice deficient in both a nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) DNA repair protein a...

A method to enrich large size DNA fragments obtained by digestion with rare cutting restriction endonucleases was developed and applied for the isolation of a 150 kb SfiI fragment containing the beta-globin gene cluster. The digested DNA is rendered single stranded at the ends by diffusing a strand specific exonuclease into an agarose plug containing DNA. The plug is melted and solution hybridi...

Chromosome segregation during sporulation in Bacillus subtilis involves the anchoring of sister chromosomes to opposite ends of the cell. Anchoring is mediated by RacA, which acts as a bridge between a centromere-like element in the vicinity of the origin of replication and the cell pole. To define this element we mapped RacA binding sites by performing chromatin immunoprecipitation in conjunct...

A path in an edge-colored graph G is rainbow if no two edges of the path are colored the same. The rainbow connection number rc(G) of G is the smallest integer k for which there exists a k-edge-coloring of G such that every pair of distinct vertices of G is connected by a rainbow path. Let f(d) denote the minimum number such that rc(G) ≤ f(d) for each bridgeless graph G with diameter d. In this...