Single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) is a product of many cellular processes that involve double-stranded DNA, for example during DNA replication and repair, and is formed transiently in many others. Measurement of ssDNA formation is fundamental for understanding many such processes. The availability of a fluorescent biosensor for the determination of single-stranded DNA provides an important route to a...

Previous studies on marine environmental virology have primarily focused on double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) viruses; however, it has recently been suggested that single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) viruses are more abundant in marine ecosystems. In this study, we performed a quantitative viral community DNA analysis to estimate the relative abundance and composition of both ssDNA and dsDNA viruses in offsh...

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is an obligate human pathogen that colonizes the genital tract and causes gonorrhoea. Neisseria gonorrhoeae can form biofilms during natural cervical infections, on glass and in continuous flow-chamber systems. These biofilms contain large amounts of extracellular DNA, which plays an important role in biofilm formation. Many clinical isolates contain a gonococcal genetic i...

APOBEC3G (A3G) DNA deaminase activity requires a holoenzyme complex whose assembly on nascent viral reverse transcripts initiates with A3G dimers binding to ssDNA followed by formation of higher-order A3G homo oligomers. Catalytic activity is inhibited when A3G binds to RNA. Our prior studies suggested that RNA inhibited A3G binding to ssDNA. In this report, near equilibrium binding and gel shi...

DNA is becoming increasingly important in the domain of optical fiber sensors, either as a tool for biosensing, or target to detect. In this review main contributions last years are presented both wavelength and intensity based configurations. This comprises use natural single strand (ssDNA) sequences receptors detection ssDNA through hybridization, synthetic nucleic acids complementary sequenc...

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) can be processed by the Mre11-Rad50-Nbs1 (MRN) complex, which is essential to promote ataxia telangiectasia-mutated (ATM) activation. However, the molecular mechanisms linking MRN activity to ATM are not fully understood. Here, using Xenopus laevis egg extract we show that MRN-dependent processing of DSBs leads to the accumulation of short single-stranded DNA oli...

Immune recognition of cytosolic DNA represents a central antiviral defence mechanism. Within the host, short single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) continuously arises during the repair of DNA damage induced by endogenous and environmental genotoxic stress. Here we show that short ssDNA traverses the nuclear membrane, but is drawn into the nucleus by binding to the DNA replication and repair factors RPA a...

The objective of the present study was to develop an understanding of short single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) to assist the development of new DNA-based biosensors. A ssDNA model containing twelve bases was constructed from the 130-145 codon sequence of the p53 gene. Various thermodynamic macroscopic observables such as temperature, energy distributions, as well as root mean square deviation (RMSD) o...

RecA protein features two distinct DNA-binding sites. During DNA strand exchange, the primary site binds to single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), forming the helical RecA nucleoprotein filament. The weaker secondary site binds double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) during the homology search process. Here we demonstrate that this site has a second important function. It binds the ssDNA strand that is displaced fro...