scholarly journals Quantitative solid-phase assay to measure deoxynucleoside triphosphate pools

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Cruz Landoni ◽  
Liya Wang ◽  
Anu Suomalainen

Deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs) are the reduced nucleotides used as the building blocks and energy source for DNA replication and maintenance in all living systems. They are present in highly regulated amounts and ratios in the cell, and their balance has been implicated in the most important cell processes, from determining the fidelity of DNA replication to affecting cell fate. Furthermore, many cancer drugs target biosynthetic enzymes in dNTP metabolism, and mutations in genes directly or indirectly affecting these pathways are the cause of devastating diseases. The accurate and systematic measurement of these pools is key to understand the mechanisms behind these diseases and their treatment. We present a new method for measuring dNTP pools from biological samples, utilising the current state-of-the-art polymerase method, modified to a solid-phase setting and optimised for larger scale measurements.

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Cruz Landoni ◽  
Liya Wang ◽  
Anu Suomalainen

Abstract deoxynucleoside triphosphate (dNTPs) are the reduced nucleotides used as the building blocks and energy source for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) replication and maintenance in all living systems. They are present in highly regulated amounts and ratios in the cell, and their balance has been implicated in the most important cell processes, from determining the fidelity of DNA replication to affecting cell fate. Furthermore, many cancer drugs target biosynthetic enzymes in dNTP metabolism, and mutations in genes directly or indirectly affecting these pathways that are the cause of devastating diseases. The accurate and systematic measurement of these pools is key to understanding the mechanisms behind these diseases and their treatment. We present a new method for measuring dNTP pools from biological samples, utilizing the current state-of-the-art polymerase method, modified to a solid-phase setting and optimized for larger scale measurements.


Author(s):  
Igor Karlovits ◽  

The concept of efficient utilisation of renewable bio-based materials (biomass feedstock) is the driving force in the green transformation to a more sustainable and circular society. Biorefineries or biochemical platforms convert and utilise different sources of biomass into fuels and other beneficial derivates like fibres and other bio-based chemicals. These can be used as building blocks for many potentially useful applications. In this review, we shall describe the current state of the art and trends in the conversion of lignocellulosic feedstock into materials which can be primarily used in packaging applications. The three main constituents (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) are being re-engineered into new products with higher added value. The main goal of all these downstream products is that they do not compete with animal feed and food applications. The main downstream products of different kind of transformations are different natural fibres which can be further processed into micro or nano fibrillated state and used for a broad application of fields from ink, adhesive and packaging materials. Also, fibres and its derivates can be bonded successfully into bio-composites or fibre-based foams applications for the protective packaging applications. Hemicellulose, as a second most abundant component, has been researched for applications in adhesives and paper and paperboard coatings. Lignin which is currently utilised as an energy source for the paper industry, has been recently actively researched. Lignin-based biopolymers have a potential to be used in many different applications from additives in the barrier coatings on the packaging to active packaging and even as lignin-based foams. All these applications are currently in the development stages and cover niche market segments, but are expected to grow and to be used in future markets.


Separations ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naccarato ◽  
Tagarelli

The present review aims to describe the recent and most impactful applications in pollutant analysis using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) technology in environmental, food, and bio-clinical analysis. The covered papers were published in the last 5 years (2014–2019) thus providing the reader with information about the current state-of-the-art and the future potential directions of the research in pollutant monitoring using SPME. To this end, we revised the studies focused on the investigation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), pesticides, and emerging pollutants (EPs) including personal care products (PPCPs), in different environmental, food, and bio-clinical matrices. We especially emphasized the role that SPME is having in contaminant surveys following the path that goes from the environment to humans passing through the food web. Besides, this review covers the last technological developments encompassing the use of novel extraction coatings (e.g., metal-organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, PDMS-overcoated fiber), geometries (e.g., Arrow-SPME, multiple monolithic fiber-SPME), approaches (e.g., vacuum and cold fiber SPME), and on-site devices. The applications of SPME hyphenated with ambient mass spectrometry have also been described.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 689
Author(s):  
Henryk Straube ◽  
Claus-Peter Witte ◽  
Marco Herde

Nucleotides fulfill many essential functions in plants. Compared to non-plant systems, these hydrophilic metabolites have not been adequately investigated in plants, especially the less abundant nucleotide species such as deoxyribonucleotides and modified or damaged nucleotides. Until recently, this was mainly due to a lack of adequate methods for in-depth analysis of nucleotides and nucleosides in plants. In this review, we focus on the current state-of-the-art of nucleotide analysis in plants with liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry and describe recent major advances. Tissue disruption, quenching, liquid–liquid and solid-phase extraction, chromatographic strategies, and peculiarities of nucleotides and nucleosides in mass spectrometry are covered. We describe how the different steps of the analytical workflow influence each other, highlight the specific challenges of nucleotide analysis, and outline promising future developments. The metabolite matrix of plants is particularly complex. Therefore, it is likely that nucleotide analysis methods that work for plants can be applied to other organisms as well. Although this review focuses on plants, we also discuss advances in nucleotide analysis from non-plant systems to provide an overview of the analytical techniques available for this challenging class of metabolites.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Jubayer Shawon Shawon ◽  
Feng Li

Silicon photonics is a disruptive semiconductor technology that taps into the extraordinary properties of light while taking full advantage of the already matured CMOS processes developed in the semiconductor industry. However, just like electronic industry in the 1970s, currently, Silicon Photonics is in its infancy. The fundamental building blocks of silicon photonics such as waveguides, lasers, modulators, etc. are yet to be fully optimized for low-cost-mass-manufacturing. In this paper, the current state-of-the-art related to developing and optimizing these aforementioned key components will be presented. The challenges of process integration regarding Silicon photonics will also be discussed.


Author(s):  
Arpit Agarwal ◽  
Katharina Muelling ◽  
Katerina Fragkiadaki

We propose an exploration method that incorporates lookahead search over basic learnt skills and their dynamics, and use it for reinforcement learning (RL) of manipulation policies. Our skills are multi-goal policies learned in isolation in simpler environments using existing multigoal RL formulations, analogous to options or macroactions. Coarse skill dynamics, i.e., the state transition caused by a (complete) skill execution, are learnt and are unrolled forward during lookahead search. Policy search benefits from temporal abstraction during exploration, though itself operates over low-level primitive actions, and thus the resulting policies does not suffer from suboptimality and inflexibility caused by coarse skill chaining. We show that the proposed exploration strategy results in effective learning of complex manipulation policies faster than current state-of-the-art RL methods, and converges to better policies than methods that use options or parametrized skills as building blocks of the policy itself, as opposed to guiding exploration. We show that the proposed exploration strategy results in effective learning of complex manipulation policies faster than current state-of-the-art RL methods, and converges to better policies than methods that use options or parameterized skills as building blocks of the policy itself, as opposed to guiding exploration.


2009 ◽  
Vol 62 (7) ◽  
pp. 605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel Holler ◽  
Jean-François Nierengarten

Owing to their peculiar electronic properties, fullerene derivatives are attractive building blocks for dendrimer chemistry. Whereas, for the main part, the fullerene-containing dendrimers reported so far have been prepared with a C60 core, dendritic structures with fullerene units at their surface or with C60 spheres in the dendritic branches have been more scarcely considered. This is mainly associated with the difficulties related to the synthesis of fullerene-rich molecules. In this review, the most recent developments on the molecular engineering of fullerene-rich dendrons and dendrimers are presented to illustrate the current state-of-the-art of fullerene chemistry for the preparation of new dendritic materials.


1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 1126-1142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey W. Gilger

This paper is an introduction to behavioral genetics for researchers and practioners in language development and disorders. The specific aims are to illustrate some essential concepts and to show how behavioral genetic research can be applied to the language sciences. Past genetic research on language-related traits has tended to focus on simple etiology (i.e., the heritability or familiality of language skills). The current state of the art, however, suggests that great promise lies in addressing more complex questions through behavioral genetic paradigms. In terms of future goals it is suggested that: (a) more behavioral genetic work of all types should be done—including replications and expansions of preliminary studies already in print; (b) work should focus on fine-grained, theory-based phenotypes with research designs that can address complex questions in language development; and (c) work in this area should utilize a variety of samples and methods (e.g., twin and family samples, heritability and segregation analyses, linkage and association tests, etc.).


1976 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 497-498
Author(s):  
STANLEY GRAND

10.37236/24 ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 1000 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Di Bucchianico ◽  
D. Loeb

We survey the mathematical literature on umbral calculus (otherwise known as the calculus of finite differences) from its roots in the 19th century (and earlier) as a set of “magic rules” for lowering and raising indices, through its rebirth in the 1970’s as Rota’s school set it on a firm logical foundation using operator methods, to the current state of the art with numerous generalizations and applications. The survey itself is complemented by a fairly complete bibliography (over 500 references) which we expect to update regularly.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document