The orientation of DNA molecules has been determined by labelling one of the molecule end with a Biotin-labelled analog of dTTP (Bio-dUTP) and then by complexing the Bio-dUTP with Avidin-Ferritin. DNAs of phi X174, pBR322 and SV40 were end labelled with Bio-dUTP and imaged by Electron Microscopy (EM). This is a rapid, general method to unambiguously determine the orientation of DNA molecules fo...

HIV-1 reverse transcriptase discriminates poorly between dUTP and dTTP, and accordingly, viral DNA products become heavily uracilated when viruses infect host cells that contain high ratios of dUTP:dTTP. Uracilation of invading retroviral DNA is thought to be an innate immunity barrier to retroviral infection, but the mechanistic features of this immune pathway and the cellular fate of uracilat...

5-Azidomethyl dUTP and two 5-trans-cyclooctene dUTPs with different linkers between the TCO and the uracil base have been incorporated into DNA by primer extension, reverse-transcription and PCR amplification. For azidomethyl dUTP the PCR reaction was successful even when the modified dUTP was not supplemented with dTTP. In one case 335 azidomethyl dU residues were incorporated into the 523 bas...

The mutational properties of 5-formyl-2'-deoxyuridine 5'-triphosphate (5-CHO-dUTP) and 5-hydroxy-2'-deoxycytidine 5'-triphosphate (5-OH-dCTP), the major oxidatively damaged pyrimidine nucleotides derived from dTTP and dCTP, respectively, were analyzed by an in vivo assay. 5-CHO-dUTP and 5-OH-dCTP were directly incorporated into Escherichia coli , and their mutagenicities were evaluated by the c...

Apoptosis induced in different cell lines can be detected and quantified in one step. Direct labeling of apoptotic cells (DLAC) was performed by incorporation of fluorescein-dUTP (F-dUTP) in DNA strand breaks by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT). Nick-end-labeling using F-dUTP obviates the need for second-step revelation reagents without reducing the specificity of detection. Cells we...