Development and independent validation of a prognostic assay for stage II colon cancer using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue.

Purpose: Current prognostic factors are poor at identifying patients at risk of disease recurrence after surgery for stage II colon cancer. Here we describe a DNA microarray-based prognostic assay using clinically relevant formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples.

Patients And Methods: A gene signature was developed from a balanced set of 73 patients with recurrent disease (high risk) and 142 patients with no recurrence (low risk) within 5 years of surgery.

The transposon impala is activated by low temperatures: use of a controlled transposition system to identify genes critical for viability of Aspergillus fumigatus.

Genes that are essential for viability represent potential targets for the development of anti-infective agents. However, relatively few have been determined in the filamentous fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. A novel solution employing parasexual genetics coupled with transposon mutagenesis using the Fusarium oxysporum transposon impala had previously enabled the identification of 20 essential genes from A.

Characterisation of Aft1 a Fot1/Pogo type transposon of Aspergillus fumigatus.

In recent years the filamentous fungus Aspergillus fumigatus has become a significant cause of infection in man and as such has become the focus of much study. It is thought to be the leading mould pathogen in leukaemia and transplant patients and is responsible for mortality in a large number of individuals with immunological disorders. In an attempt to develop molecular mutagenesis tools for assessment of this organism, the genome of A.

The Aspergillus niger annexin, anxC3.1 is constitutively expressed and is not essential for protein secretion.

An annexin, anxC3.1, was isolated and characterised from the industrially important filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger. anxC3.