Preparation of trinucleotide phosphoramidites as synthons for the synthesis of gene libraries

The preparation of protein libraries is a key issue in protein engineering and biotechnology. Such libraries can be prepared by a variety of methods, starting from the respective gene library. The challenge in gene library preparation is to achieve controlled total or partial randomization at any predefined number and position of codons of a given gene, in order to obtain a library with a maximum number of potentially successful candidates. This purpose is best achieved by the usage of trinucleotide synthons for codon-based gene synthesis. We here review the strategies for the preparation of fully protected trinucleotides, emphasizing more recent developments for their synthesis on solid phase and on soluble polymers, and their use as synthons in standard DNA synthesis.

Bioinformatic Analysis of Circadian Expression of Oncogenes and Tumor Suppressor Genes

Background: Circadian rhythms are physiological and behavioral cycles with a period of approximately 24 hours that control various functions including gene expression. Circadian disruption is associated with a variety of diseases, especially cancer. Although some of the oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) are known as clock-controlled genes (CCGs), the analysis and annotation of circadian expression of most human oncogenes and TSGs are still lacking. This study aims to investigate the circadian expression of a list of human oncogenes and TSGs. Methods: A bioinformatic analysis was conducted on a gene library comprising 120 genes to investigate the circadian expression of human oncogenes and TSGs. To achieve this purpose, the genotranscriptomic data were retrieved from COSMIC and analyzed by R statistical software. Furthermore, the acquired data were analyzed at the transcriptomic and proteomic levels using several publicly available databases. Also, the significance of all analyses was confirmed statistically. Results: Altogether, our results indicated that 7 human oncogenes/TSGs may be expressed and function in a circadian manner. These oncogenes/TSGs showed a circadian expression pattern at CircaDB database and associated with at least one of the circadian genes/CCGs based on both genotranscriptomic and correlation analyses. Conclusions: Although 4 of 7 finally outputted genes have been previously reported to be clock controlled, heretofore there is no report about the circadian expression of 3 other genes. Considering the importance of oncogenes/TSGs in the initiation and progression of cancer, further studies are suggested for the identification of exact circadian expression patterns of these 3 human oncogenes/TSGs.

Bacterial Diversity in Çamaltı Saltern, Turkey

A combination of culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches was employed to identify the bacterial diversity of Çamaltı solar saltern in Turkey. The bacterial communities of Çamaltı Saltern were analyzed by molecular techniques that included denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 16S rRNA gene fragments PCR amplified from DNA extracted from the water samples of the saltern and 16S rRNA gene library analysis. A total of 42 isolates were identified at the genus/species level and 17 of them were found to belong to the Bacteria domain. All bacterial isolates were phylogenetically related to Halobacillus, Virgibacillus and Halomonas genus. A total of 50 clones from 16S rRNA gene library were analyzed by ARDRA. 16S rRNA sequence analysisof these clones revealed that most (85%) of the bacterial clones were related to Salinibacter genus members of the Bacteroidetes. The sequences of DGGE bands were related to the uncultured Salinibacter, uncultured halophilic bacterium and Halomonas sp. This work highlights the halophilic bacterial diversity of Çamaltı marine solar saltern.