As genome sequencing projects begin to come to completion, the challenge becomes one of determining how to understand the information contained within the DNA. DNA is a polymorphic macromolecule; the A- B- and Z-DNA conformations have been observed by a variety of physical techniques. The magnitude of the energetic differences...
A sophisticated computer program is developed to analyze flow linear
dichroism data on nucleic acids for individual base inclinations. Measured
absorption and linear dichroism data for synthetic AT and GC polymers and
natural DNAs are analyzed. The reliability of the program is tested on data for
the synthetic polymers, and...
Molecular DNA markers have become widely used in all areas of genetic
research. The objectives of this thesis were to develop polymorphic markers in sunflower
and utilize the markers for genetic and candidate gene analyses. Amplified fragment
length polymorphism (AFLP) markers were used to estimate genetic similarities and
assess the...
In proteomic studies, separate experimental protocols have been necessary to identify proteins, determine their function, and predict their three-dimensional structure. In this study, a function-based separation of proteins was conceived to fractionate proteins prior to enzymatic digestion. In the initial demonstration of this technique, a DNA substrate was used to...
The studies described here introduce a model for residue preservation on stone tools. They simulate stone tool manufacture in order to define parameters important for the study of DNA residues. Microscopic examination of stone tools has identified microcracks that trap DNA and protein from animal blood cells. Thorough investigation of...
The effects of pH on the torsional flexibility of DNA bound to a
nucleosome core particle were investigated by studying the time-resolved
fluorescence anisotropy decays of ethidium bromide intercalated into the DNA
of the core particle. As the torsional flexibility of DNA is affected by the
presence of an intercalating...
Plastid DNA restriction site and rearrangement mutations were used to study phylogenetic relationships among hard pines (subgenus Pinus). Total genomic DNA was cut with 19 restriction enzymes, blotted, and then probed mostly with 80% of the Douglas-Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) chioroplast genome (cpDNA) {initial study, using only 6bp recognition enzymes}; or,...