Searching for genetic markers for hereditary diseases in cattle by means of DNA fingerprinting

Preparation of magnetic chitosan and graphene oxide-functional guanidinium ionic liquid composite for the solid-phase extraction of protein

A series of novel cationic functional hexaalkylguanidinium ionic liquids and anionic functional tetraalkylguanidinium ionic liquids have been synthesized, and then magnetic chitosan graphene oxide (MCGO) composite has been prepared and coated with these functional guanidinium ionic liquids to extract protein by magnetic solid-phase extraction. MCGO-functional guanidinium ionic liquid has been characterized by vibrating sample magnetometer, field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectrometer and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. After extraction, the concentrations of protein were determined by measuring the absorbance at 278 nm using an ultra violet visible spectrophotometer. The advantages of MCGO-functional guanidinium ionic liquid in protein extraction were compared with magnetic chitosan, graphene oxide, MCGO and MCGO-ordinary imidazolium ionic liquid. The proposed method has been applied to extract trypsin, lysozyme, ovalbumin and bovine serum albumin. A comprehensive study of the adsorption conditions such as the concentration of protein, the amount of MCGO-functional guanidinium ionic liquid, the pH, the temperature and the extraction time were also presented. Moreover, the MCGO-functional guanidinium ionic liquid can be easily regenerated, and the extraction capacity was about 94% of the initial one after being used three times.

Repetitive plasmid sequences generate DNA fingerprinting patterns in mammals

Bacterial plasmids with stringently regulated copy numbers have directly repeated DNA sequences, termed iterons, in the vicinity of their replication origins. These sequences bind a specific protein exerting a key role in the initiation of plasmid replication. Plasmids P1, pSC101 and RFS1010 have different iteron sequences and belong to three different incompatibility groups. Used as DNA probes each of these plasmids generates specific patterns in mammals similar to those obtained by the DNA fingerprinting technique. The iteron-containing regions were identified as the part of the plasmids responsible for those patterns by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplified DNA segments that contained the iteron regions as probes.

A DNA fingerprinting band associated with the susceptibility to CAE virus-induced arthritis in goats

Caprine arthritis-encephalitis (CAE) virus-induced arthritis can be found in all Swiss goat breeds and it has been shown that there is a genetic pre-disposition for this disease. The 10 Toggenburg, 32 Chamois coloured and 40 Saanen goats, specially selected for this study, were naturally infected with CAE virus. Within each breed there was an equal distribution between clinically healthy animals and animals suffering from arthritis. In the case of the Saanen goats, a DNA fingerprint band generated with the multi-locus probe pV47 was identified associated with susceptibility to CAE virus-induced arthritis. In the Chamois coloured goats, no association was found. Another candidate DNA fingerprint band was present in clinically healthy animals of the Toggenburg breed but their number was insufficient for analysis.

Quantitative traits in chicken associated with DNA fingerprint bands

In an unselected control line of a selection experiment in chicken the following traits were evaluated: number of eggs, average egg weight, egg mass, age at first egg, body weight at 20 weeks, body weight at 40 weeks, feed consumption and feed efficiency (feed consumption/egg mass). Data and blood samples of 143 females of the same age were available for analysis. The animals were ranked for each trait according to the phenotypic performance adjusted for hatch and laying house effect rather than the breeding value. DNA mixes of the top 5 and the bottom 5 hens were compared to each other by DNA fingerprinting. The most striking differences could be observed with the probe pV47 in the mixes for body weight at 20 weeks and the feed efficiency. In the following the study focused on feed efficiency. Five groups of 10 hens each, around quantiles 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, were analyzed with respect to the occurrence of 7 particular DNA fingerprint bands. The association of the groups' mean feed efficiency with the groups' band frequencies was assessed by linear regression. For 2 bands significant regression coefficients (P < 0.005) were found.