Uncertainty in estimating the number of contributors from simulated DNA mixture profiles, with and without allele dropout, from Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Caucasian ethnic populations.

Determining the number of contributors (NOC) accurately in a forensic DNA mixture profile can be challenging. To address this issue, there have been various studies that examined the uncertainty in estimating the NOC in a DNA mixture profile. However, the focus of these studies lies primarily on dominant populations residing within Europe and North America.

A practical study on direct PCR amplification using the GlobalFiler™ PCR Amplification Kit on human bloodstains collected with microFLOQ™ Direct swabs.

Rapid DNA profiling of casework samples is a powerful tool that can support law enforcement agencies in the quick apprehension of perpetrators before they re-offend or escape the jurisdiction. This present study evaluated the feasibility of direct PCR amplification, using the microFLOQ™ Direct swab, for generating DNA profiles (from bloodstains) within 3 h. The swab tip is coated with nylon fibers pre-treated with cell lysing agent, which allows for the direct PCR amplification of collected samples without DNA extraction and quantification, thereby shortening the time required to obtain a DNA profile.

Annexin A3 is associated with cell death in lactacystin-mediated neuronal injury.

Massive neuronal apoptosis and accumulation of protein aggregates in the cortex and hippocampus of the brain are hallmarks of several neurodegenerative disorders, indicating ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) dysfunction. Lactacystin, a classical proteasome inhibitor, is used to simulate ubiquitin proteasome system dysfunction in neurons to mimic pathological features of neurodegenerative disorders. Based on Western blot analyses, we reported for the first time that annexin A3 (AnxA3) is not only endogenously expressed in mouse cortical neurons but also more importantly, by gene expression microarray and real-time RT-PCR that it is greatly transcriptional up-regulated to approximately 11- and 15-fold, respectively in murine primary cortical neurons with 1μM lactacystin for 24h.

Identification of p10 as a neurotoxic product generated from the proteolytic cleavage of the neuronal Cdk5 activator.

The involvement of cyclin-dependent kinase-5 (Cdk5) and p25, the proteolytic fragment of activator p35, has long been implicated in the development of neuron-fibrillary tangles (NFTs), a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Findings in this area over the past decade have been highly controversial and inconclusive. Here we report unprecedented detection of endogenous p10, the smaller proteolytic fragment of the Cdk5 activator p35 in treated primary cortical neurons that underwent significant apoptosis, triggered by proteasome inhibitors MG132 and lactacystin, and protein kinase inhibitor staurosporine (STS).

The genome sequence of the psychrophilic archaeon, Methanococcoides burtonii: the role of genome evolution in cold adaptation.

Psychrophilic archaea are abundant and perform critical roles throughout the Earth's expansive cold biosphere. Here we report the first complete genome sequence for a psychrophilic methanogenic archaeon, Methanococcoides burtonii. The genome sequence was manually annotated including the use of a five-tiered evidence rating (ER) system that ranked annotations from ER1 (gene product experimentally characterized from the parent organism) to ER5 (hypothetical gene product) to provide a rapid means of assessing the certainty of gene function predictions.

pH dependent high transfection efficiency of mouse neuroblastomas using TransFectin.

Mouse neuroblastoma cell lines are often used in lieu of mouse primary neurons in ex vivo experiments, as they provide an easier platform for transfection, compared to the latter. A well-known inherent problem with this strategy is the relatively low transfection efficiency (15-30%) of mouse neuroblastoma cell lines such as neuro-2A and N1E-115. We were able to improve the transfection efficiency of these cell lines by using the cationic lipid reagent, TransFectin (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA) to optimise the transfection conditions.