Atomic force microscope investigation of large-circle DNA molecules

A circular bacterial artificial chromosome of 148.9 kbp on human chromosome 3 has been extended and fixed on bare mica substrates using a developed fluid capillary flow method in evaporating liquid drops. Extended circular DNA molecules were imaged with an atomic force microscope (AFM) under ambient conditions. The measured total lengths of the whole DNA molecules were in agreement with sequencing analysis data with an error range of +/-3.6%. This work is important groundwork for probing single nucleotide polymorphisms in the human genome, mapping genomic DNA, manipulating biomolecular nanotechnology, and studying the interaction of DNA-protein complexes investigated by AFM.

Permanent Genetic Resources added to Molecular Ecology Resources Database 1 May 2009-31 July 2009

This article documents the addition of 512 microsatellite marker loci and nine pairs of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) sequencing primers to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Alcippe morrisonia morrisonia, Bashania fangiana, Bashania fargesii, Chaetodon vagabundus, Colletes floralis, Coluber constrictor flaviventris, Coptotermes gestroi, Crotophaga major, Cyprinella lutrensis, Danaus plexippus, Fagus grandifolia, Falco tinnunculus, Fletcherimyia fletcheri, Hydrilla verticillata, Laterallus jamaicensis coturniculus, Leavenworthia alabamica, Marmosops incanus, Miichthys miiuy, Nasua nasua, Noturus exilis, Odontesthes bonariensis, Quadrula fragosa, Pinctada maxima, Pseudaletia separata, Pseudoperonospora cubensis, Podocarpus elatus, Portunus trituberculatus, Rhagoletis cerasi, Rhinella schneideri, Sarracenia alata, Skeletonema marinoi, Sminthurus viridis, Syngnathus abaster, Uroteuthis (Photololigo) chinensis, Verticillium dahliae, Wasmannia auropunctata, and Zygochlamys patagonica. These loci were cross-tested on the following species: Chaetodon baronessa, Falco columbarius, Falco eleonorae, Falco naumanni, Falco peregrinus, Falco subbuteo, Didelphis aurita, Gracilinanus microtarsus, Marmosops paulensis, Monodelphis Americana, Odontesthes hatcheri, Podocarpus grayi, Podocarpus lawrencei, Podocarpus smithii, Portunus pelagicus, Syngnathus acus, Syngnathus typhle,Uroteuthis (Photololigo) edulis, Uroteuthis (Photololigo) duvauceli and Verticillium albo-atrum. This article also documents the addition of nine sequencing primer pairs and sixteen allele specific primers or probes for Oncorhynchus mykiss and Oncorhynchus tshawytscha; these primers and assays were cross-tested in both species.

Chromosomal localization and molecular marker development of the lipopolysaccharide and beta-1,3-glucan binding protein gene in the Zhikong scallop Chlamys farreri (Jones et Preston) (Pectinoida, Pectinidae)

Zhikong scallop Chlamys farreri(Jones et Preston) is an economically important species in China. Understanding its immune system would be of great help in controlling diseases. In the present study, an important immunity-related gene, the Lipopolysaccharide and Beta-1,3-glucan Binding Protein (LGBP) gene, was located on C. farreri chromosomes by mapping several lgbp-containing BAC clones through fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Through the localization of various BAC clones, it was shown that only one locus of this gene existed in the genome of C. farreri, and that this was located on the long arm of a pair of homologous chromosomes. Molecular markers, consisting of eight single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) markers and one insertion-deletion (indel), were developed from the LGBP gene. Indel marker testing in an F1 family revealed slightly distorted segregation (p = 0.0472). These markers can be used to map the LGBP gene to the linkage map and assign the linkage group to the corresponding chromosome. Segregation distortion of the indel marker indicated genes with deleterious alleles might exist in the surrounding region of the LGBP gene.

The polymorphism of lysozyme gene in Zhikong scallop (Chlamys farreri) and its association with susceptibility/resistance to Listonella anguillarum

Lysozyme functions as a crucial biodefence effector against the infection of bacterial pathogens in innate immunity. The nucleotide sequence polymorphisms in promoter region of a nuclear goose type lysozyme gene from Zhikong scallop Chlamys farreri (designated as CFLysG) were investigated to explore their association with susceptibility/resistance to Listonella anguillarum infection. Eight sites of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and two sites of insert-deletion (ins-del) polymorphisms were identified in the promoter region of CFLysG. Two of them, -753 TATCTCGATCAGG ins-del polymorphism and -391 A-G SNP were selected to analyze their distribution in the susceptible and resistant stocks, which were identified according to the survival time after L. anguillarum challenge. Using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), two genotypes were found at each site, which were ins/del and ins/ins at locus -753, and A/A and A/G at locus -391, respectively. The -753 ins/del genotype was more prevalent in the resistant stock than that in the susceptible stock, 30% vs 16.67% in frequency, but there was no significant difference in the frequency distribution between these two stocks (P=0.15). In contrast, the frequency of -391A/G genotype in the resistant stock was significantly higher (30%) than that in the susceptible stock (7.14%) (P=0.007), indicating a significant association with the resistance of Zhikong scallop to L anguillarum. To confirm the presumption, another independent challenge experiment was performed, in which the cumulative mortality of scallops with -391 A/A genotype (96.8%) was significantly higher than those with -391 A/G genotype (64.5%) (P=0.001), which further validate the association between -391 A/G genotype and the resistance of Zhikong scallop to L anguillarum. These results suggested that the -391 A/G could be a potential marker applied in future selection of Zhikong scallop with enhanced resistance to L anguillarum. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

皱纹盘鲍基因组单核苷酸多态标记开发与应用

本研究利用皱纹盘鲍的EST序列进行单核苷酸多态（SNP）标记开发；对等位基因特异性PCR（AS-PCR）方法进行了优化，使之适合SNP基因型分析；对一个作图家系开发基因相关SNP标记，并对标记在子代个体中的分离情况进行了分析，探讨了借助SNP在遗传连锁图谱上定位功能基因的方法。 对大约5800条EST序列进行拼接，共获得含有4条以上序列的contig 150个，在86个含有单碱基突变位点的contigs中发现SNP 302个，碱基置换类型A/G（C/T）、A/C（G/T）、A/T、C/G的位点数目分别为147、90、21、16个。50个contigs在BLASTx分析后具有匹配（E值小于1E-5），其中的220个SNPs全部为同义cSNPs，位于遗传密码子的第三简并位。粗略估算，皱纹盘鲍核基因组中SNP的平均分布密度不低于1%。 通过扩增DNA pool后产物直接测序共验证了28个SNP。PCR直接测序法操作简单，结果可靠，一次测序可能验证多个位点，有时还可以发现新的突变位点。通过重点研究引物3’端不同错配对PCR扩增的影响，对AS-PCR的引物设计原则及反应条件进行了探讨及优化，发现在AS引物的3’端倒数第二位引入额外的强错配后，AS-PCR检测SNP的特异性会得到很大的提高，从而使AS-PCR可以满足小规模的SNP基因型分析。 根据EST-contig或者单一的EST序列设计PCR引物74组，其中43组可以特异扩增皱纹盘鲍基因组DNA。用这些引物扩增一个作图家系的父母本，并对PCR产物纯化后分别进行双向直接测序，在18个基因片段中发现了86个SNP，其中82个是新SNP，并且绝大多数SNP位于内含子序列中。这些SNP在父母本中的基因型，在多数情形下，是一方为纯合（AA），而另一方为杂合（AB）；父母本均为杂合和均为纯合的形式则较少。在父母本中杂合形式的SNP位点，理论上可以在子代中发生分离。 在每个基因的内含子中选择父母本基因型为AA×AB或者AB×AA的SNP位点，设计AS-PCR分型引物并检测123个子代个体的基因型。在对9个基因中的11个SNP位点（包括5个母本标记和6个父本标记）进行子代基因型分析后发现，2个位点不符合孟德尔1：1分离（P < 0.05），符合预期分离比率的9个位点存在较大可能定位于遗传连锁图谱。通过分析两组父母本标记（F142和M142，F459和M459）发现，在根据父母本序列设计SNP分型引物时，可以设计指向同一基因的成对的父母本标记，从而使两个单亲标记可作为一个共同标记使用。