Month: March 2007
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Unproductive splicing of SR genes associated with highly conserved and ultraconserved DNA elements
The human and mouse genomes share a number of long, perfectly conserved nucleotide sequences, termed ultraconserved elements1. Whereas these regions can act as transcriptional enhancers when upstream of genes, those within genes are less well understood. In particular, the function of ultraconserved elements that overlap alternatively spliced exons of genes encoding RNA-binding proteins is unknown.…
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Single-molecule analysis of DNA-protein complexes using nanopores
We present a method for rapid measurement of DNA-protein interactions using voltage-driven threading of single DNA molecules through a protein nanopore. Electrical force applied to individual ssDNA-exonuclease I complexes pulls the two molecules apart, while ion current probes the dissociation rate of the complex. Nanopore force spectroscopy (NFS) reveals energy barriers affecting complex dissociation. This…