Antisense oligonucleotides targeting microRNAs or their mRNA targets prove to be powerful tools f... more Antisense oligonucleotides targeting microRNAs or their mRNA targets prove to be powerful tools for molecular biology research and may eventually emerge as new therapeutic agents. Synthetic oligonucleotides are often contaminated with highly homologous failure sequences. Synthesis of a certain oligonucleotide is difficult to scale up because it requires expensive equipment, hazardous chemicals and a tedious purification process. Here we report a novel thermocyclic reaction, polymerase-endonuclease amplification reaction (PEAR), for the amplification of oligonucleotides. A target oligonucleotide and a tandem repeated antisense probe are subjected to repeated cycles of denaturing, annealing, elongation and cleaving, in which thermostable DNA polymerase elongation and strand slipping generate duplex tandem repeats, and thermostable endonuclease (PspGI) cleavage releases monomeric duplex oligonucleotides. Each round of PEAR achieves over 100-fold amplification. The product can be used in one more round of PEAR directly, and the process can be further repeated. In addition to avoiding dangerous materials and improved product purity, this reaction is easy to scale up and amenable to full automation. PEAR has the potential to be a useful tool for large-scale production of antisense oligonucleotide drugs.
A new DNA computing algorithm based on a ligase chain reaction is demonstrated to solve an SAT pr... more A new DNA computing algorithm based on a ligase chain reaction is demonstrated to solve an SAT problem. The proposed DNA algorithm can solve an n-variable m-clause SAT problem in m steps and the computation time required is O (3m + n). Instead of generating the full-solution DNA library, we start with an empty test tube and then generate solutions that partially satisfy the SAT formula. These partial solutions are then extended step by step by the ligation of new variables using Taq DNA ligase. Correct strands are amplified and false strands are pruned by a ligase chain reaction (LCR) as soon as they fail to satisfy the conditions. If we score and sort the clauses, we can use this algorithm to markedly reduce the number of DNA strands required throughout the computing process. In a computer simulation, the maximum number of DNA strands required was 20.48n when n = 50, and the exponent ratio varied inversely with the number of variables n and the clause/variable ratio m/n. This algorithm is highly space-efficient and error-tolerant compared to conventional brute-force searching, and thus can be scaled-up to solve large and hard SAT problems.
The colony hybridization method was presented for isolating microsatellite markers in Zhikong sca... more The colony hybridization method was presented for isolating microsatellite markers in Zhikong scallop, Chlamys farreri. We designed primers to amplify 26 unique microsatellites. Fourteen primer pairs amplified clearly and were polymorphic. Based on characterization with 60 unrelated individuals, the number of alleles ranges from two to 13, and the expected heterozygosity ranges from 0.22 to 0.91. These markers have the potential for genetic studies in population structure and intraspecific variation.
Antisense oligonucleotides targeting microRNAs or their mRNA targets prove to be powerful tools f... more Antisense oligonucleotides targeting microRNAs or their mRNA targets prove to be powerful tools for molecular biology research and may eventually emerge as new therapeutic agents. Synthetic oligonucleotides are often contaminated with highly homologous failure sequences. Synthesis of a certain oligonucleotide is difficult to scale up because it requires expensive equipment, hazardous chemicals and a tedious purification process. Here we report a novel thermocyclic reaction, polymerase-endonuclease amplification reaction (PEAR), for the amplification of oligonucleotides. A target oligonucleotide and a tandem repeated antisense probe are subjected to repeated cycles of denaturing, annealing, elongation and cleaving, in which thermostable DNA polymerase elongation and strand slipping generate duplex tandem repeats, and thermostable endonuclease (PspGI) cleavage releases monomeric duplex oligonucleotides. Each round of PEAR achieves over 100-fold amplification. The product can be used in one more round of PEAR directly, and the process can be further repeated. In addition to avoiding dangerous materials and improved product purity, this reaction is easy to scale up and amenable to full automation. PEAR has the potential to be a useful tool for large-scale production of antisense oligonucleotide drugs.
A new DNA computing algorithm based on a ligase chain reaction is demonstrated to solve an SAT pr... more A new DNA computing algorithm based on a ligase chain reaction is demonstrated to solve an SAT problem. The proposed DNA algorithm can solve an n-variable m-clause SAT problem in m steps and the computation time required is O (3m + n). Instead of generating the full-solution DNA library, we start with an empty test tube and then generate solutions that partially satisfy the SAT formula. These partial solutions are then extended step by step by the ligation of new variables using Taq DNA ligase. Correct strands are amplified and false strands are pruned by a ligase chain reaction (LCR) as soon as they fail to satisfy the conditions. If we score and sort the clauses, we can use this algorithm to markedly reduce the number of DNA strands required throughout the computing process. In a computer simulation, the maximum number of DNA strands required was 20.48n when n = 50, and the exponent ratio varied inversely with the number of variables n and the clause/variable ratio m/n. This algorithm is highly space-efficient and error-tolerant compared to conventional brute-force searching, and thus can be scaled-up to solve large and hard SAT problems.
The colony hybridization method was presented for isolating microsatellite markers in Zhikong sca... more The colony hybridization method was presented for isolating microsatellite markers in Zhikong scallop, Chlamys farreri. We designed primers to amplify 26 unique microsatellites. Fourteen primer pairs amplified clearly and were polymorphic. Based on characterization with 60 unrelated individuals, the number of alleles ranges from two to 13, and the expected heterozygosity ranges from 0.22 to 0.91. These markers have the potential for genetic studies in population structure and intraspecific variation.
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