Marine drugs--macrolactins.

The increasing demands for new lead compounds in pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries have driven scientists to search for new bioactive natural products. Marine microorganisms are rich sources of novel, bioactive secondary metabolites, and have attracted much attention of chemists, pharmacologists, and molecular biologists. This mini-review mainly focuses on macrolactins, a group of 24-membered lactone marine natural products, aiming at giving an overview on their sources, structures, biological activities, as well as their potential medical applications.

Development and validation of a LC-MS/MS method for the determination of viaminate in human plasma.

A sensitive and specific method for determination of viaminate in human plasma by using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed in this study. The plasma samples were simply deproteinated, extracted, evaporated, and then reconstituted in 200 microl of methanol prior to analysis. Chromatographic separation was carried out on a Shimadzu VP-ODS column (250 mm x 2.

Multiplex single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping by adapter ligation-mediated allele-specific amplification.

An improved approach for increasing the multiplex level of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing by adapter ligation-mediated allele-specific amplification (ALM-ASA) has been developed. Based on an adapter ligation, each reaction requires n allele-specific primers plus an adapter-specific primer that is common for all SNPs. Thus, only n+1 primers are used for an n-plex PCR amplification.

[Adapter-ligation mediated allele-specific amplification (ALM-ASA) for multiplex SNP genotyping].

To establish adapter-ligation mediated allele-specific amplification ("ALM-ASA" for short) for multiplex SNP genotyping, five SNPs, 100C>T, 1661G>C, 1758G>T, 2470T>C and 2850C>T in CYP2D6 gene were used as an example for evaluating the method. Firstly, a preamplification was carried out for producing a long target containing all SNPs of interest. Secondly, the preamplified DNA fragments were digested with a restriction endonuclease to form sticky ends.

[Approaches for SNP genotyping].

With the completion of the Human Genome Project (HGP), typing single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) has become one of the main tasks in the post-genome era. Consequently, a robust, flexible and cost-effective technique for SNP typing is essential to analyze a large number of SNPs. The latest genotyping technologies and the relative detection platforms were introduced systematically.

[Interaction between balofloxacin and DNA and the influence of Mg2+ on the interaction].

Aim: To study the binding mode of balofloxacin with DNA and evaluate the influence of Mg2+ on the binding between balofloxacin and DNA.

Methods: Fluorescent spectroscopy was used to study the interaction of balofloxacin with DNA and to calculate the thermodynamic constants. UV-Vis spectra, DNA viscosity titration, competition experiment and the effect of dsDNA and ssDNA on the fluorescense intensity were used to identify the binding mode.

Structural characterization of chlorobenzylidine.

Aim: To study the structure and crystal forms of chlorobenzylidine.

Methods: Karl Fischer titrimetry, FTIR, thermal analysis, single and powder X-ray diffraction were used for the studies of the structure of chlorobenzylidine and for the identification of two forms of chlorobenzylidine.

Results: Chlorobenzylidine and its diastereoisomer have been studied in this article.