Admixture estimates for the population of Havana City.

Background: The Cuban population is essentially a result of the admixture between Spanish, West African and, to a lesser degree, Amerindian tribes that inhabited the island.

Aim: The study analysed the genetic structure of the three principal ethnic groups from Havana City, and the contribution of parental populations to its genetic pool.

Subjects And Methods: According to genealogical information and anthropological traits, 206 subjects were classified as Mulatto, of Spanish decent or of African descent.

HLA class I polymorphism in the Cuban population.

The extreme polymorphism found at some of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system loci makes it an invaluable tool for population genetic analyses. In the present study the genetic polymorphism of the Cuban population was estimated at HLA-A, -B, and -Cw loci by DNA typing. HLA class I allele and haplotype diversity were determined in 390 unrelated Cuban individuals (188 whites and 202 mulattos) from all over the country.

ACE I/D polymorphism study in a Cuban hypertensive population.

Background: The angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) is a key protein of the renin angiotensin system, whose main function is the conversion of angiotensin I to II. ACE is involved in the physiological control of blood pressure and it is a candidate gene for essential hypertension in humans. We tested the relevance of the ACE insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism in our population.

A bacterial single-chain Fv antibody fragment that inhibits binding of its parental anti-E-selectin monoclonal antibody to activated human endothelial cells.

Using the polymerase chain reaction, we cloned, modified, and linked antibody variable (V) region coding genes from a mouse hybridoma, and produced a bacterial single-chain Fv (scFv) antibody fragment specific for E-Selectin. A vector of pBR322 origin, bearing the tryptophan promoter and the ompA bacterial signal peptide, was used to direct scFv expression to periplasm. The vector included a six-histidine coding sequence 5' to the scFv for the purification of the expressed protein using immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC).

Negative staining with zinc-imidazole of gel electrophoresis-separated nucleic acids.

Zinc and imidazole salts were applied for the detection of nucleic acids on either polyacrylamide of agarose gels. After electrophoresis, polyacrylamide gels are washed in distilled water to remove most of the residual electrophoresis reagents, then incubated in 10 mM zinc sulfate for 10 min, and subsequently immersed in 0.2 M imidazole for 3 min.