Nucleic acid double helices are stabilized by hydrogen bonding and stacking forces (a combination of hydrophobic, dispersive and electrostatic forces) of the base pairs in the helix. One would predict the hydrogen bonding contributions to increase and the stacking contributions to decrease as the water activity in the medium decreases. Study of nucleobase paired duplexes in the absence of water...

Prior to the evolution of DNA-based organisms on earth over 3.5 billion years ago it is hypothesized that RNA was the primary genetic molecule. Before RNA-based organisms arose, peptide nucleic acids may have been used to transmit genetic information by the earliest forms of life on earth. We discovered that cyanobacteria produce N-(2-aminoethyl)glycine (AEG), a backbone for peptide nucleic aci...

Background: The poor permeability of the plasma and nuclear membranes to DNA plasmids are two major barriers for the development of these therapeutic molecules. Therefore, success in gene therapy approaches depends on the development of efficient and safe non-viral delivery systems. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro delivery of plasmid DNA encoding HPV16 E7 gene...

The increasing sensitivity of PCR has meant that in the last two decades PCR has emerged as a major tool in diet studies, enabling us to refine our understanding of trophic links and to elucidate the diets of predators whose prey is as yet uncharacterized. The achievements and methods of PCR-based diet studies have been reviewed several times, but here we review an important development in the ...