DNA-Chip-basierte Diagnose der Onychomykose und Tinea pedis.

Hintergrund Und Ziele: Onychomykose (OM) und Tinea pedis (TP) sind häufige Pilzinfektionen der Haut. Aktuell basiert die Diagnose vornehmlich auf mikroskopischem Direktnachweis und/oder Kultur. Beide Methoden haben jedoch eine geringe bis mäßige Sensitivität und benötigen teilweise mehrere Wochen, bis endgültige Laborergebnisse vorliegen.

DNA chip-based diagnosis of onychomycosis and tinea pedis.

Background And Objectives: Onychomycosis (OM) and tinea pedis (TP) are common fungal infections. Currently, diagnosis is based on direct microscopy and culture that have a low to moderate sensitivity and/or require up to 3-4 weeks until results are obtained. PCR techniques have emerged for the diagnosis of fungal infections, but little is known about their sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing.

Fur: Find unique genomic regions for diagnostic PCR.

Motivation: Unique marker sequences are highly sought after in molecular diagnostics. Nevertheless, there are only few programs available to search for marker sequences, compared to the many programs for similarity search. We therefore wrote the program Fur for Finding Unique genomic Regions.

Is surgical plume developing during routine LEEPs contaminated with high-risk HPV? A pilot series of experiments.

Introduction: Growing evidence shows a causal role of high-risk humane papillomavirus (HPV) infections in the development of head and neck cancer. A recent case report shows two patients suffering from tonsillar cancer without any risk factors apart from their work as gynecologists doing laser ablations and loop electrosurgical excision procedures (LEEP). The aim of the present investigation is to evaluate whether surgical plume resulting from routine LEEPs of HSIL of the cervix uteri might be contaminated with the DNA of high-risk HPV.

Rapid microarray processing using a disposable hybridization chamber with an integrated micropump.

We present a disposable microarray hybridization chamber with an integrated micropump to speed up diffusion based reaction kinetics by generating convective flow. The time-to-result for the hybridization reaction was reduced from 60 min (standard protocol) down to 15 min for a commercially available microarray. The integrated displacement micropump is pneumatically actuated.

A drastic reduction in DOF1 transcript levels does not affect C4-specific gene expression in maize.

The transcription factor DOF1 has been suggested to regulate photosynthetic gene expression in maize. By screening a RescueMu transposon-tagged mutant library, we identified a maize mutant with a transposon integration in the Dof1 gene 16 bp upstream of the transcription initiation site (TIS). Sequencing of the Dof1 promoter region revealed an unusual promoter structure missing any typical elements.

Restriction accessibility in isolated nuclei reveals light-induced chromatin reorganization at the PEPC promoter in maize.

Expression of genes necessary to perform C4 photosynthesis in maize is activated by light. It is not known how this activation is regulated on the chromatin level in vivo. We analysed alterations in the chromatin structure of the promoter of the C4-specific isoform of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) after illumination of seedlings.

The interaction of DOF transcription factors with nucleosomes depends on the positioning of the binding site and is facilitated by maize HMGB5.

The expression of genes involved in C(4) photosynthesis in maize is under tight tissue-specific and light-dependent control. There is strong evidence that this control is at least in part brought about by DOF transcription factors binding to the respective promoters. We analyzed the interaction of DOF1 and DOF2 proteins with a functional and a cryptic endogenous binding site derived from the maize phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase promoter (-300 bp region) in the nucleosomal context.