Genetic tools

It is indispensable for any formal genetic analysis to be able to isolate mutants defective in genes coding for important cellular functions. In addition to the spontaneous mutations mentioned above, as caused by ISH elements, several protocols of induced mutagenesis were introduced. The most efficient method so far is the use of the alkylating agent ethyl methane sulfonate to cause point mutations 

An expression vector for//, volcanii was constructed by Nieuwlandt and Daniels (1990) by incorporating the promoter of the H. volcanii tRNA gene into a derivative of the H. volcanii shuttle vector pWL102 (Lam and Doolittle, 1989). The applicability of this vector is limited, 

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Further work at EniTecnologies was conducted with Rhodococcus strains. Rhodococ-cus was selected for its metabolical versatility, easy availability in soils and water, and remarkable solvent tolerance. Its capabilities for catalyzing diverse transformation reactions of crude oils, such as sulfur removal, alkanes and aromatics oxidation and catabolism caught their attention. Hence, genetic tools for the engineering of Rhodococcus strains have been applied to improve its biotransformation performance and its tolerance to certain common contaminants of the crude oil, such as cadmium. The development of active biomolecules led to the isolation and characterization of plasmid vectors and promoters. Strains have been constructed in which the careful over-expression of selected components of the desulfurization pathway leads to the enhancement of the sulfur removal activity in model systems. Rhodococcus, Gordona, and Nocardia were transformed in this way trying to improve their catalytic performance in BDS. In a... 

The Wacker company (Germany) has optimized, via genetic tools, the production of the enzyme, including improved selectivity to increase the yield of specific CDs, a, or / , or y, respectively, that correspond best to the particular application.131... 

Kurth, J.H., "Pharmacogenomics A Genetic Tool for Identifying Patients at Risk," Drug Inform.., 34, 223-227 (2000). 

Leonard G (1993) Synthetic enhancement in gene interaction a genetic tool come of age. Trends Genet 9 362-366... 

The genetic tools in Drosophila described above and selective crosses of the resulting genetically engineered flies allow the generation of flies that show cancer-related phenotypes and, at the same time, permit to modulate the function of a presumed oncology cancer... 

Watson SJ, Meng F, Thompson RC, AkU H (2000) The chip as a specific genetic tool. Biol Psychiatry 48 1147-1156... 

De Koning-Ward, T.F., Janse, C.J. and Waters, A.P. (2000) The development of genetic tools for dissecting the biology of malaria parasites. Annual Review of Microbiology 54, 157-1 85. 

Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) Genetic tool from the direct analysis of the human genome to detect new genes that predispose to... 

Long before the discovery of PKSs themselves, a wealth of indirect information was gained regarding the biosynthetic properties of PKSs through incorporation experiments with [14C]-, [13C]-, [180]-, and [2H]-labeled substrates and intermediate analogs [1], However, the biochemical basis for these highly controlled synthetic processes remained virtually unknown until the advent of molecular genetic tools in this problem area. 

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