Cholera outbreak is more common in developing countries. The causative agent of the disease is Vibrio cholerae strains O1 and O139. Traditional diagnostic testing for Vibrio is not always reliable, because Vibrio can enter a viable but non cultivable state. Therefore, nucleic acid-based tests have emerged as a useful alternative to traditional enrichment testing.       In this investigation, a...

A functionality for regulating hole transport efficiency is a prerequisite for the utilization of DNA duplexes as nanodevices. Herein, we report the regulation of hole transport in anthraquinone-tethered DNA with dual triplex forming sites. Long-range photooxidation experiments showed that hole transport was effectively suppressed by the formation of triplex at low temperature, while it was rec...

Triple-helix DNA structures can form endogenously at mirror repeat polypurine/polypyrimidine sequences or by introduction of triplex-forming oligonucleotides (TFOs). Recent evidence suggests that triple helices are sources of genetic instability, and are subject to increased rates of mutagenesis and recruitment of repair factors. Indeed, observations using TFOs suggest that triple helices provo...

DNA triplex and quadruplex structures have been successfully detected by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). Circular dichroism and UV-melting experiments show that these structures are stable in 150 mM ammonium acetate at pH 7 for the quadruplexes and pH 5.5 for the triplexes. The studied quadruplexes were the tetramer [d(TGGGGT)](4), the dimer [d(GGGGTTTTGGGG)](2), and the int...

The aim of this study was to selectively inhibit human mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) gene expression by triple helix assembly. Eight 21-mer oligodeoxyribonucleotides were designed to bind to two purine-rich sequences in the 5'-flanking region of the human ALDH2 gene. Gel mobility shift assays showed that triplex formation is sequence-specific for the target duplex and the third s...

Oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) directed triplex formation has therapeutic importance and depends on Hoogsteen hydrogen bonds between a duplex DNA and a third DNA strand. T*A:T triplets are formed at neutral pH and C+*G:C are favoured at acidic pH. It is demonstrated that spermine conjugation at N4 of 5-Me-dC in ODNs 1-5 (sp-ODNs) imparts zwitterionic character, thus reducing the net negative charge...

Specific recognition of a region of duplex DNA by triplex-forming oligonucleotides (TFOs) provides an attractive strategy for genetic manipulation. Based on this, we have investigated the ability of the triplex-directed approach to induce mutations at a chromosomal locus in living cells. A mouse fibroblast cell line was constructed containing multiple chromosomal copies of the lambdasupFG1 vect...

Nucleic acid testing (NAT) is valuable for screening blood donors for occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and infection during the window period in countries where HBV is endemic, such as China. An "in-house" NAT (Triplex NAT) was developed for screening for HBV DNA, hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA, and the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA. Using the Triplex NAT, a head-to-head ...

Mycobacterium triplex, a recently described, potentially pathogenic species, caused disease primarily in immunocompromised patients. We report a case of pulmonary infection due to this mycobacterium in an immunocompetent patient and review the characteristics of two other cases. In our experience, Mycobacterium triplex pulmonary infection is unresponsive to antimycobacterial chemotherapy.

Stabilization of nucleic acid assemblies, such as duplex and triplex, is quite important for their wide variety of potential applications. Various stabilization methods, including molecular designs of chemically modified nucleotides and hybrid stabilizers, and combinations of different stabilization methods have been developed to increase stability of nucleic acid assemblies. However, combinati...