Oligonucleotide Primers and Probes: Use of Chemical Modifications to Increase or Decrease the Specificity of qPCR from Scott D. Rose, Richard Owczarzy, Joseph R. Dobosy and Mark A. Behlke writing in Real-Time PCR: Advanced Technologies and Applications : Although the vast majority of primers and probes employed in qPCR applications today are synthesized using unmodified DNA bases, selective use of chemically-modified bases and non-base modifying groups can prevent primer-dimer artifacts, improve specificity, and allow for selective read more ...

Plant Responses to Fusarium Metabolites from Takumi Nishiuchi writing in Fusarium : Genomics, Molecular and Cellular Biology : Plant pathogenic species of Fusarium produce numerous secondary metabolites during infection of host plants. These metabolites often perturb host defense responses and suppress plant growth. Plant responses to Fusarium metabolites can be classified as follows: (1) inhibition of root or shoot growth; (2) inhibition of seed germination; (3) changes in leaf color such as chlorosis; (4) cell death; and (5) suppression or read more ...

Preface and Introduction from Takashi Onodera and Akikazu Sakud writing in Prions: Current Progress in Advanced Research : Prion diseases or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are fatal neurological diseases that include Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) in humans, scrapie in sheep and goats, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, and chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervids. A key event in prion diseases is the conversion of the cellular, host-encoded prion protein (PrP C ) to its abnormal isoform (PrP Sc ) read more ...

Prion Protein and the Family Members, Doppel and Shadoo from Akikazu Sakudo writing in Prions: Current Progress in Advanced Research : Prion diseases are devastating neurodegenerative disorders caused by infectious proteinaceous agents known as prions. Prion protein (PrP) gene ( Prnp )-deficient mice do not infect with prion agent, indicating essential role of PrP for prion diseases. An abnormal isoform of prion protein (PrP), known as PrP Sc , which is converted from cellular PrP (PrP C ), is thought to constitute the prion agent. Recently, read more ...

Proteins Involved in Cold-adaptation from Kazuaki Yoshimune, Jun Kawamoto and Tatsuo Kurihara writing in Cold-Adapted Microorganisms : This chapter primarily describes cold shock proteins (CSPs), which are induced in response to temperature downshift in both psychrophiles and mesophiles. These proteins are important for various cellular processes, including transcription, translation, protein synthesis and folding, and membrane functions, to maintain their viability under cold conditions. Here, the CSPs in psychrophilic and mesophilic read more ...

Psychrophilic Microorganisms in Marine Environments from Yuichi Nogi writing in Cold-Adapted Microorganisms : Psychrophilic microorganisms are extremophiles that are capable of growth and reproduction at low temperatures. They are present in marine environments, which occupy slightly more than 70% of Earth's surface, especially in the Arctic, Antarctica, and deep seas at temperatures lower than 15°C. Marine psychrophiles utilize a wide variety of metabolic pathways, including photosynthesis, chemoautotrophy, and heterotrophy. The read more ...

Real-time PCR Arrays from Nick A. Saunders writing in Real-Time PCR: Advanced Technologies and Applications : Real-time PCR arrays are tools that allow convenient testing of samples in many assays concurrently, parallel testing of many samples or testing of multiple samples and targets simultaneously. It is desirable to standardise and automate primer and probe selection due to the large number of assays that must be designed. Furthermore, it is useful to use probe selection techniques that increase the robustness of the individual assays read more ...

Repeat-induced Point Mutation, DNA Methylation and Heterochromatin in Gibberella zeae (anamorph: Fusarium graminearum ) from Kyle R. Pomraning, Lanelle R. Connolly, Joseph P. Whalen, Kristina M. Smith and Michael Freitag writing in Fusarium : Genomics, Molecular and Cellular Biology : Multiple mechanisms control genome stability in filamentous fungi. To limit the expansion of repeated DNA, e.g. transposable elements (TEs), a group of filamentous ascomycetes make use of a duplication-dependent mutator system, called "Repeat-Induced Point read more ...

Sex and Fruiting in Fusarium from Francis Trail writing in Fusarium : Genomics, Molecular and Cellular Biology : Fusarium spp. represent an array of sexual life styles: asexual, homothallic, and heterothallic. The recent availability of genomic resources for several Fusarium species has inspired intense research on these organisms, including a better understanding of sporulation. Although studies have clarified the arrangement of the MAT idiomorphs among these species, little is known about the role of MAT genes in sex and fruiting body read more ...

Structural Dynamics of Fusarium Genomes from H. Corby Kistler, Martijn Rep and Li-Jun Ma writing in Fusarium : Genomics, Molecular and Cellular Biology : Fungi in the genus Fusarium have a great negative impact on the world economy, yet also hold great potential for answering many fundamental biological questions. The advance of sequencing technologies has made possible the connection between phenotypes and genetic mechanisms underlying the acquisition and diversification of such traits with economic and biological significance. This chapter read more ...

The Extraction and Purification of Nucleic Acids for Analysis by PCR from Chaminda Salgado and Waqar Hussain writing in Real-Time PCR: Advanced Technologies and Applications : Myriad methods for the extraction and purification of nucleic acids prior to PCR are currently used throughout the community. While these methods have many unique and bespoke aspects, they broadly follow a sequence of lysis, isolation, washing and elution to get from a complex biological sample to purified nucleic acid that can be used in a PCR reaction. Various common read more ...

Excerpt from a book review of Foodborne and Waterborne Bacterial Pathogens: Epidemiology, Evolution and Molecular Biology : "this book addresses important themes in the molecular epidemiology of bacterial pathogens ... Another consistent strength of this book is the detailed coverage of antibiotic resistance across the entire spectrum of food and waterborne pathogens ... for clinicians, food or environmental scientists, or public health officials interested in gaining a foundation in the molecular microbiology of this important group of read more ...

The Nitrogen Regulation Network and its Impact on Secondary Metabolism and Pathogenicity from Philipp Wiemann and Bettina Tudzynski writing in Fusarium : Genomics, Molecular and Cellular Biology : Nitrogen is essential for fungal growth because it is a component of both nucleic acids and proteins. Fungi have two predominant mechanisms to incorporate ammonium into their metabolism: 1) the NADP-dependent, glutamate-dehydrogenase-catalyzed reductive amination of 2-oxoglutarate to form glutamate; and 2) the ATP-dependent, glutamine read more ...

Excerpt from a book review of Yersinia : Systems Biology and Control : "There are only a few publications on systems biology studies of infectious processes and no summary literature. In this respect, this book is very timely. It presents a comprehensive analysis of all the components and processes of an infectious process, including applied Omic technologies and biochemical analysis, described in the book in detail. The focus is on the adaptation of the pathogen to the host or in the case of the Y. pestis to life in the flea and the response read more ...

Excerpt from a book review of Two-Component Systems in Bacteria : "The literature on this area of ​​research is remarkable and confusing for the non-specialist. This volume edited by Roy Gross and Dagmar Beier is a clear landmark. A top-class science, international team of authors presents in 18 chapters the latest developments in the field of two-component regulatory systems, from genetics through the biochemistry and cell biology to structural biology. I have read with great profit the excellently written and carefully edited read more ...

The Validation of Real-time PCR Assays for Infectious Diseases from Melvyn Smith writing in Real-Time PCR: Advanced Technologies and Applications : The real-time polymerase chain reaction is now established as one of the core technologies for diagnosing infectious diseases. The early stages of the technique's development were followed by a dramatic increase in the number of diagnostic assays being published, together with the introduction of commercially produced tests. Each of the numerous publications showed a number of differences in the read more ...

Veterinary Applications of Real-time PCR for Detection and Diagnosis of Infectious Agents from Alan McNally writing in Real-Time PCR: Advanced Technologies and Applications : The detection and diagnosis of veterinary infectious diseases is an area in which the potential of Real-time PCR has been best demonstrated. In particular Real-time PCR has been successfully applied as a front line tool in the diagnostic algorithm for notifiable veterinary viral pathogens such as Avian Influenza, foot-and-mouth disease, bluetongue virus, as well as read more ...

Real-time PCR Detection of Foodborne Pathogenic Escherichia coli from Patricia Elízaquível, Gloria Sánchez and Rosa Aznar writing in Real-Time PCR in Food Science: Current Technology and Applications : Foodborne diarrheagenic Escherichia coli strains belong to a minor number of O:H serotypes. Of them the shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157:H7 is the most frequently reported. Besides, non-O157 strains are increasingly being isolated from a variety of food products. E. coli infections are typically associated with read more ...

Excerpt from a book review of Neurospora : Genomics and Molecular Biology : "The volume’s authors are a nice mix of the Neurospora old guard and both relatively new or recently independent members of the Neurospora community. This book will be useful for novice and experienced researchers alike, a go-to manual for graduate students and post-docs new to the field and the organism and any scientist interested in the fungi. It will serve as an entrée into less laboratory-amenable but more biologically and medically important fungi ... This read more ...

Real-time PCR Detection of Foodborne Pathogenic Clostridia from Kathie Grant and Corinne Amar writing in Real-Time PCR in Food Science: Current Technology and Applications : The principle Clostridal foodborne pathogens, Clostridium botulinum and Clostridium perfringens are responsible, respectively, for two different toxin mediated foodborne diseases, namely botulism and C. perfringens food poisoning. Foodborne botulism is a severe, life-threatening disease which can affect a large number of people and although incidence is rare, it is read more ...

Real-Time PCR Detection of Foodborne and Waterborne Parasites from George D. Di Giovanni, Gregory D. Sturbaum, and Huw V. Smith writing in Real-Time PCR in Food Science: Current Technology and Applications : Many parasites are capable of infecting humans, with zoonotic and environmental transmission pathways having significant roles. Of particular significance are pathways involving contaminated food and water. Despite increasing risks posed by food and waterborne parasites due to global sourcing of food, cosmopolitan eating habits, and read more ...

Real-Time PCR and other Molecular Detection Methods for Foodborne Pathogenic Viruses from Doris Helen D'Souza, Marta Hernández, Nigel Cook and David Rodríguez-Lázaro writing in Real-Time PCR in Food Science: Current Technology and Applications : Analysis of foodstuffs for virus contamination requires profoundly sensitive and accurate methods, due to the potentially low number of viruses and the complexity of the sample matrix. In view of these criteria, the polymerase chain reaction is the assay type of choice, with its read more ...

The new book on RNA Editing edited by Stefan Maas will be available for dispatch within the next 2 or 3 read more ...

Real-time PCR Analysis of Genetically Modified Organisms from Arne Holst-Jensen writing in Real-Time PCR in Food Science: Current Technology and Applications : Genetic modification (GM) alters the phenotype of the GM organism (GMO). This is achieved through application of gene technology and modification of genetic information stored in nucleic acids. The logical choice of methodology to detect and characterise GM is therefore analytical methods targeting nucleic acids. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methodology has been the preferred read more ...

Real-time PCR Analysis of Food Allergens and Gluten from Carmen Diaz-Amigo and Bert Popping writing in Real-Time PCR in Food Science: Current Technology and Applications : Food allergens, responsible for IgE-mediated allergic responses and listed in European, North American and Japanese regulations, are exclusively proteins and are ideally detected by analytical methods targeting either peptides or proteins. However, in some cases where no suitable methods for proteins exist or as an alternative method to substantiate results from read more ...

Putative Disease Associations with Cytomegalovirus: a Critical Survey from Ann B. Hill writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention : In recent years it has been suggested that CMV may be involved in the pathogenesis of a variety of conditions in which there may not be clear evidence of viral replication. These "non-traditional" disease associations include glioblastoma and various other cancers, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease, and immunosenescence, amongst others. The pathologies read more ...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Efflux Pumps from Keith Poole writing in Microbial Efflux Pumps: Current Research : Antibiotic efflux systems are common in Pseudomonas aeruginosa , with chromosomally-encoded multidrug efflux systems of the Resistance Nodulation Division (RND) family, specifically MexAB-OprM, MexCD-OprJ, MexEF-OprN and MexXY-OprM, of particular importance in clinical settings. Despite the broad substrate specificity of many of these, their clinical importance is limited to fluoroquinolone resistance (MexAB-OprM, MexCD-OprJ and read more ...

Protein-aided Mineralization of Inorganic Nanostructures from Brandon L. Coyle, Weibin Zhou and François Baneyx writing in Bionanotechnology: Biological Self-assembly and its Applications : Designer proteins combine the adhesive or synthesizing properties of solid binding peptides (SBPs) selected by combinatorial techniques with the desirable characteristics of a host scaffold. Like natural biomineralizing proteins, these chimeric constructs are powerful tools to control the nucleation, growth, morphogenesis and crystallography of read more ...