Sequencing of DNA

Gene A sequence of DNA at a particular position on a specific chromosome that encodes a precise functional product (usually protein)... 

Section 28 14 The nucleotide sequence of DNA can be determined by a technique m which a short section of single stranded DNA is allowed to produce its complement m the presence of dideoxy analogs of ATP TTP GTP and CTP DNA formation terminates when a dideoxy analog is incorporated into the growing polynucleotide chain A mixture of polynucleotides dif fermg from one another by an incremental nucleoside is produced and analyzed by electrophoresis From the observed sequence of the comple mentary chain the sequence of the original DNA is deduced... 

In the human cell there are 23 pairs of chromosomes containing approximately 3000 million base pairs of DNA. Short sequences of DNA, perhaps with as few as 20 nucleotide units and sometimes radiolabeled, can be obtained either by chemical synthesis (gene machine) or from cloning. These short sequences can be used to probe for a complementary sequence by looking for the position to which they bind to any DNA sample under investigation, from blood for example. Such probes can detect as little as 100 fg of DNA and are the basis of forensic genetic fingerprinting tests. 

Linker-Scanning Mutagenesis. Using linker-scanning mutagenesis (24) small sequences of DNA are removed and replaced with a synthetic restriction fragment or linker. This technique is commonly used in analysis of promoters and other control sequences in DNA, while preserving the spatial relationship between the sequences. 

Fig. 3. Example of cniciform formation from an inverted-repeat sequence of DNA which occurs in the plasmid ColEl. The bolded bases are paired with...

Cellular Protein Biosynthesis. The process of cellular protein biosynthesis is virtually the same in all organisms. The information which defines the amino acid sequence of a protein is encoded by its corresponding sequence of DNA (the gene). The DNA is composed of two strands of polynucleotides, each comprising some arrangement (sequence) of the four nucleotide building blocks of the nucleic acids adenine (A), thymine (T),... 

Eor example, the technique of Southern blotting was developed (68) for use with agarose gel electrophoresis of DNA fragments. Southern blots are designed to detect specific sequences of DNA. After electrophoresis is complete, the DNA is denatured and the single stranded DNA transferred to the specially prepared nitrocellulose paper. The nitrocellulose is then incubated with radioactive RNA or DNA complementary to those DNA sequences of interest. After the nitrocellulose has been sufftciendy incubated with the radioactive complementary DNA, autoradiography is used to identify the fragments of interest. 

Moreover, disposable electrochemical sensors for the detection of a specific sequence of DNA were realised by immobilising synthetic single-stranded oligonucleotides onto a graphite or a gold screen-printed electrode. Tire probes became hybridised with different concentrations of complementary sequences present in the sample. 

Gene The basic unit of inheritance a sequence of DNA coding that can be translated by the cell machinery into a sequence of amino acids linked to form a protein. 

The unique characteristic of each protein is the distinctive sequence of amino acid residues in its polypeptide chain(s). Indeed, it is the amino acid sequence of proteins that is encoded by the nucleotide sequence of DNA. This amino acid sequence, then, is a form of genetic information. By convention, the amino acid sequence is read from the N-terminal end of the polypeptide chain through to the C-terminal end. As an example, every molecule of ribonucle-... 

FIGURE 11.1 The fundamental process of information transfer in cells. Information encoded in the nucleotide sequence of DNA is transcribed through synthesis of an RNA molecule whose sequence is dictated by the DNA sequence. As the sequence of this RNA is read (as groups of three consecutive nucleotides) by the protein synthesis machinery, it is translated into the sequence of amino acids in a protein. This information tmiisfer system is encapsulated in the dogma DNA RNA protein. 

Type II restriction enzymes have received widespread application in the cloning and sequencing of DNA molecules. Their hydrolytic activity is not ATP-depen-dent, and they do not modify DNA by methylation or other means. Most importantly, they cut DNA within or near particular nucleotide sequences that they specifically recognize. These recognition sequences are typically four or six nucleotides in length and have a twofold axis of symmetry. For example, E. coU has a restriction enzyme, coRI, that recognizes the hexanucleotide sequence GAATTC ... 

FIGURE 12.4 Maxam-Gilbert sequencing of DNA cleavage at purines uses dimethyl sulfate, followed by strand scission with piperidine. 

Sequencing of DNA is carried out by the Sanger dideoxy method, and small DNA segments can be synthesized in the laboratory by automated instruments. Small amounts of DNA can be amplified by factors of 106 using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). 

Gene, the sequence of DNA that codes for a complete protein. 

The genetic information stored in the nucleotide sequence of DNA serves two purposes. It is the source of information for the synthesis of all protein molecules of... 

The genetic information within the nucleotide sequence of DNA is transcribed in the nucleus into the specific nucleotide sequence of an RNA molecule. The sequence of nucleotides in the RNA transcript is complementary to the nucleotide sequence of the template strand of its gene in accordance with the base-pairing rules. Several different classes of RNA combine to direct the synthesis of proteins. 

Manual Automatic Techniques Are Available to Determine the Sequence of DNA... 

Signal The end product observed when a specific sequence of DNA or RNA is detected by autoradiography or some other method. Hybridization with a complementary radioactive polynucleotide (eg, by Southern or Northern blotting) is commonly used to generate the signal. 

The head-to-tail-coupling reactions described above are potentially useful in the design of dynamic combinatorial libraries. Features of these reactions include the rapid and reversible formation of carbon-carbon bonds, multifunctional ene-imine building blocks, and formation of stereo centers upon ene-imine linkage. Support for template-directed synthesis utilizing ene-imine building blocks is the formation of a poly ene-imine species that could recognize 3 -GGA-5 sequences of DNA.48 It is noteworthy that some polyene-imines are helical and could form a triple helix with DNA. 

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