Electroporation is a simple and rapid procedure by which DNA may be transferred into cells. Essentially, a high voltage pulse is applied to a suspension of cells and DNA placed between electrodes in a suitable cuvet. It is thought that this pulse induces local areas of cell-membrane breakdown, or po ...

Recent progress in techniques for the transfer of genes into cultured mammalian cells has made possible the isolation of various interesting genes from other mammalian cells, and also the study of the function and the regulation of gene expression of mammalian genes in vivo. Various transfe ...

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is one of the most common cancers in Southern China. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is an important etiological factor of NPC. The fact that EBV genome is present in almost all NPC tissues renders it an ideal tumor marker for NPC. To date, quantitative analysis of p ...

Circulating RNA in plasma and serum is a newly developed area for molecular diagnosis. To date, increasing numbers of studies show that plasma and serum RNA could serve as both tumor- and fetal-specific markers for cancer detection and prenatal diagnosis, respectively. Recently, by introd ...

Mitochondrial respiratory chain disorders are clinically and genetically heterogeneous. There are several mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) point mutations responsible for common mitochondrial diseases such as mitochondrial encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, stroke-li ...

DNA fragments from cells that have died throughout the body not only appear in the bloodstream but also cross the kidney barrier into the urine. The relatively low molecular weight (150-200 bp) of this Transrenal DNA should be considered when deciding on methods of isolation and analysis. In parti ...

This chapter describes the application of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection and quantitation of Plasmodium falciparum DNA in the plasma of malariainfected individuals. The procedure includes the following protocols: plasma sample preparation, DNA extractio ...

The etiologic agent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has been identified as a new type of coronavirus, known as SARS-coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Although the SARS epidemic has subsided, many authorities, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease C ...

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which can exponentially replicate a target DNA sequence, has formed the basis for the sensitive and direct examination of clinical samples for evidence of infection. During the epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, PCR not only of ...

One of the most important attributes of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is its exquisite sensitivity. However, the high sensitivity of PCR also renders it prone to falsepositive results because of, for example, exogenous contamination. Good laboratory practice and specific anti- ...

Monitoring polymerase chain reaction (PCR) once each cycle is a powerful method to detect and quantify the presence of nucleic acid sequences and has become known as & quote;real-time& quote; PCR. Absolute quantification of initial template copy number can be obtained, although quantifi ...

DNA methylation can be analyzed easily by qualitative or quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods, including methylation-specific PCR (MSP), bisulfite sequencing, methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme PCR, combined bisulfite restriction an ...

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) gives extremely precise reading of mass-to-charge ratios (two analytes differ by 1 Da can be distinguished) and provides high sensitivity (less than 1 fmole of a DNA oligonucleotide can ...

With the advent of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), it is now possible to measure nucleic acid concentrations with an accuracy that was not possible only a few years ago. Examples are the analysis of gene expression or gene duplications/losses, where twofold differences in nucleic a ...

Denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) analysis is an ionpair reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography for performing analytical separations of DNA based on temperature: analysis is performed at a temperature sufficient to partially d ...

Prenatal diagnosis has become a standard part of obstetrics care. Genetic diagnoses are established prenatally through the sampling of fetal genetic material by invasive methods such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling, which are associated with a risk of fetal loss. Hence, t ...

The word “chromosome” was introduced over a century ago from the Greek language meaning “colored body.” While cytogenetics refers to the study of chromosomes, the term molecular cytogenetics is used to describe the analysis of genomic alterations using mainly in situ hybridization based ...

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) requires nucleic acid probes, including deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), ribonucleic acid (RNA), or nucleic acid analogs, labeled directly with fluorophores, or capable of indirect association with fluorophores. The nucleic acid provi ...

Ribonucleic acids (RNA) can be detected in cellular specimens by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using labeled RNA, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), or nucleic acids analogs. The RNA targets are often messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules that have been transcribed from the genomic DNA. S ...

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technology permits the detection of specific nucleic acid sequences in morphologically preserved chromosomes, cells, and tissue. The unambiguous detection of structural or copy number changes of whole chromosomes or chromosome spe ...