Methods for Detection and Mapping of Methylated and Hydroxymethylated Cytosine in DNA.

The chemical modifications of DNA are of pivotal importance in the epigenetic regulation of cellular processes. Although the function of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) has been extensively investigated, the significance of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) has only recently been acknowledged. Conventional methods for the detection of DNA methylation frequently lack the capacity to distinguish between 5mC and 5hmC, resulting in the combined reporting of both.

The TERT Promoter: A Key Player in the Fight for Cancer Cell Immortality.

The review describes the role of telomeres and telomerase in tumor progression, as well as various mechanisms of the activation of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) expression in CNS tumors and other cancers. The main mechanism of TERT activation involves acquisition of somatic mutations by the TERT gene promoter (TERTp). The article presents information on the TERTp structure and transcription factors directly interacting with TERTp and regulating its transcription.

Detection of Promoter Mutations as a Prognostic Biomarker in Gliomas: Methodology, Prospects, and Advances.

This article reviews the existing approaches to determining the promoter mutational status in patients with various tumoral diseases of the central nervous system. The operational characteristics of the most common methods and their transferability in medical practice for the selection or monitoring of personalized treatments based on the status and other related molecular biomarkers in patients with the most common tumors, such as glioblastoma, oligodendroglioma, and astrocytoma, are compared. The inclusion of new molecular markers in the course of CNS clinical management requires their rapid and reliable assessment.

Looking Back to : History of the Antibiotic Discovery and Future Prospects.

The emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria in recent decades leads us to an urgent need for the development of new antibacterial agents. The species of the genus are known as producers of secondary metabolites that are used in medicine and agriculture. The complete genome sequences of the demonstrate a wide variety of biosynthetic gene clusters, which highlights the potential ability of actinomycetes of this genus to produce new antibiotics.

Activating Telomerase Promoter Mutations and Their Application for the Detection of Bladder Cancer.

This review summarizes state-of-the-art knowledge in early-generation and novel urine biomarkers targeting the telomerase pathway for the detection and follow-up of bladder cancer (BC). The limitations of the assays detecting telomerase reactivation are discussed and the potential of transcription-activating mutations in the promoter of the gene detected in the urine as promising simple non-invasive BC biomarkers is highlighted. Studies have shown good sensitivity and specificity of the urinary promoter mutations in case-control studies and, more recently, in a pilot prospective cohort study, where the marker was detected up to 10 years prior to clinical diagnosis.

Probing the DNA-binding center of the MutL protein from the Escherichia coli mismatch repair system via crosslinking and Förster resonance energy transfer.

As no crystal structure of full-size MutL bound to DNA has been obtained up to date, in the present work we used crosslinking and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) assays for probing the putative DNA-binding center of MutL from Escherichia coli. Several single-cysteine MutL variants (scMutL) were used for site-specific crosslinking or fluorophore modification. The crosslinking efficiency between scMutL proteins and mismatched DNA modified with thiol-reactive probes correlated with the distances from the Cys residues to the DNA calculated from a model of MutS-MutL-DNA complex.