Competitive PCR
Article Abstract:
Competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) can determine messenger RNA (mRNA) levels by combining internal controls with the PCR's extreme sensitivity. PCR by itself, although 1,000 to 10,000 times as sensitive as the customary RNA blot method, was difficult to use because it lacked internal controls. RT-PCR overcomes this shortcoming by using a DNA fragment with the same primer template sequences as the target mRNA. Tests of RT-PCR involving the induction of nitric oxide synthase mRNA in mouse macrophage cells by lipopolysaccharide confirmed the method's reliability.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1992
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Stable dye-DNA intercalation complexes as reagents for high-sensitivity fluorescence detection
Article Abstract:
Fluorescence spectroscopy as a method for analysing double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) can be greatly improved by using polycationic intercalators. Intercalation involves the placing of planar aromatic compounds between adjacent base pairs of dsDNA. Tests showed that the polycationic intercalators were far less liable to breakdown than the radioisotopes that are in standard use. Ethidium, thiazole orange and oxazole yellow homodimers are three polycationic compounds that have been used to separate dsDNA fragments.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1992
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Coping with complexity
Article Abstract:
Two philosophers of science surveyed 500 geneticists to ask their opinion on whether 14 different sets of genetic information constituted a gene, or more than one gene. The medical profession and some scientists believe a gene is a trusty and well-defined concept, a specific sequence of genetic information that, when converted into messenger RNA, encodes a protein.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2006
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