Prenatal diagnosis of double autosomal mosaicism (47,XX,+8/47,XX,+14): phenotype and molecular cytogenetic analysis on different tissues.

A female fetus with multiple congenital anomalies was found to have double autosomal mosaicism, 47,XX,+8/ 47,XX,+14 on chromosome analysis via amniocentesis. At delivery, the proband displayed dysmorphic features of hypertelorism, micrognathia, low set ears, cleft palate, clubfeet, omphalocele, absent gallbladder and congenital heart defects. Fluorescence in situ hybridization demonstrated a marked discrepancy in cell line populations in the tissues examined.

A novel means to develop strain-specific DNA probes for detecting bacteria in the environment.

A simple means to develop strain-specific DNA probes for use in monitoring the movement and survival of bacteria in natural and laboratory ecosystems was developed. The method employed amplification of genomic DNA via repetitive sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR) using primers specific for repetitive extragenic palindromic (REP) elements, followed by cloning of the amplified fragments. The cloned fragments were screened to identify those which were strain specific, and these were used as probes for total genomic DNA isolated from microbial communities and subjected to rep-PCR.

Evidence for Acquisition in Nature of a Chromosomal 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid/(alpha)-Ketoglutarate Dioxygenase Gene by Different Burkholderia spp.

We characterized the gene required to initiate the degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) by the soil bacterium Burkholderia sp. strain TFD6, which hybridized to the tfdA gene of the canonical 2,4-D catabolic plasmid pJP4 under low-stringency conditions. Cleavage of the ether bond of 2,4-D by cell extracts of TFD6 proceeded by an (alpha)-ketoglutarate-dependent reaction, characteristic of TfdA (F.