Buried remnants of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and connections to its surface elevation.

The Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) occupied a large part of North-America during the late Pleistocene. Determining the proper surface geometry and elevation of the LIS is of central importance to estimate global changes in sea-level and atmospheric circulation patterns during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Despite largely disappearing from the landscape during the late Holocene, LIS remnants are found in the Penny and Barnes ice caps on Baffin Island (Canada) and ongoing permafrost degradation has been exposing relics of the LIS buried along its northern margin since the late Pleistocene.

Prevalence and persistence of foreign DNA beneath fingernails.

Fingernail scrapings and clippings are routinely examined for the presence of foreign DNA profiles in forensic casework where the case history suggests their evidentiary relevance. In order to better understand the significance of these findings, casework results from the Centre of Forensic Sciences (CFS) were analyzed and several controlled studies were conducted. In an analysis of casework data (n=265), 33% of fingernail samples contained a foreign source of DNA, 63% of which were detected at 5 or more STR loci.

Twelve short tandem repeat loci Y chromosome haplotypes: genetic analysis on populations residing in North America.

A total of 2443 male individuals, previously typed for the 13 CODIS STR loci, distributed across the five North American population groups African American, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic, and Native American were typed for the Y-STR loci DYS19, DYS385a/b, DYS389I/II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS437, DYS438 and DYS439 using the PowerPlex Y System. All population samples were highly polymorphic for the 12 Y-STR loci with the marker DYS385a/b being the most polymorphic across all sample populations. The Native American population groups demonstrated the lowest genetic diversity, most notably at the DYS393 and DYS437 loci.

Developmental validation of a real-time quantitative PCR assay for automated quantification of human DNA.

Our laboratory has developed an automated real-time quantitative PCR assay for detecting human DNA. The assay utilizes an in-house, custom-designed TaqMan-MGB sequence-specific probe (CFS-HumRT) and the ABD 7900HT SDS platform. Developmental validation has followed TWGDAM (1) guidelines and demonstrates that the assay is primate specific, is highly sensitive, yields consistent results, and works with human DNA extracted from a variety of body fluid stains.

The independent stage-specific expression of the 18-kDa heat shock protein genes during microsporogenesis in Zea mays L.

The small (18-kDa) heat shock proteins (hsps) of maize are encoded by a complex multigene family. In a previous report, we described the genetic information from cDNAs encoding two different members of the family. In this communication, we report the isolation and characterization of cDNA and genomic clones encoding information for a third member of this hsp family (c/gMHSP18-1).