Amplicon
An amplicon is a piece of DNA formed as the product of natural or artificial amplification events. For example, it can be formed via polymerase chain reactions (PCR) or ligase chain reactions (LCR), as well as by natural gene duplication .
[ edit ] Examples
Artificial amplification is used in research, [1] forensics, [2] and in medicine [1] for purposes that include detection and quantification of infectious agents [3] and identification of human remains. [4] Examples of amplicons used in these contexts include DNA that has been reverse transcribed from viral RNA and DNA that has been extracted from human hair. [2]
Natural gene duplication is implicated in several forms of human cancer including primary mediastinal B cell lymphoma and Hodgkin's lymphoma . [5] Amplicons in this context can refer to sections of chromosomal DNA that have been excised, amplified, and reinserted elsewhere in the genome and to extrachromasomal DNA known as double minutes , both of which can be comprised of one or more genes . Amplification of the genes encoded by these amplicons generally increases transcription of those genes and ultimately the volume of associated proteins . [6]
[ edit ] Applications
PCR can be used to determine sex from a human DNA sample. [7] The loci of Alu element insertion is selected, amplified and evaluated in terms of size of the fragment. The sex assay utilizes AluSTXa for the X chromosome, AluSTYa for the Y chromosome, or both AluSTXa and AluSTYa, to reduce the possibility of error to a negligible quantity. The inserted chromosome yields a large fragment when the homologous region is amplified. The males are distinguished as having two DNA amplicons present, while females have only a single amplicon . The kit adapted for carrying out the method includes a pair of primers to amplify the locus and optionally polymerase chain reaction reagents. [8]
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This section requires expansion . (November 2012) |
[ edit ] References
- ^ a b Meyers, Robert A. (1995). Molecular Biology and Biotechnology: A Comprehensive Desk Reference . New York, NY: VCH Publishers. pp. 53, 585. ISBN 1-56081-925-1 .
- ^ a b Walsh, PS; Metzger, DA; Higuchi, R (1991). "Chelex 100 as a medium for simple extraction of DNA for PCR-based typing from forensic material". BioTechniques 10 (4): 506–13. PMID 1867860 .
- ^ Consumer Affairs Branch (2010-08-17). "Roche Amplicor HIV-1 Monitor Test" . FDA . Retrieved 2012-10-16 .
- ^ Gill, Peter; Ivanov, Pavel L.; Kimpton, Colin; Piercy, Romelle; Benson, Nicola; Tully, Gillian; Evett, Ian; Hagelberg, Erika et al. (1994). "Identification of the remains of the Romanov family by DNA analysis". Nature Genetics 6 (2): 130–5. doi : 10.1038/ng0294-130 . PMID 8162066 .
- ^ Rui, Lixin; Emre, N.C. Tolga; Kruhlak, Michael J.; Chung, Hye-Jung; Steidl, Christian; Slack, Graham; Wright, George W.; Lenz, Georg et al. (2010). "Cooperative Epigenetic Modulation by Cancer Amplicon Genes" . Cancer Cell 18 (6): 590–605. doi : 10.1016/j.ccr.2010.11.013 . PMC 3049192 . PMID 21156283 .
- ^ Bignell, G. R.; Santarius, T.; Pole, J. C.M.; Butler, A. P.; Perry, J.; Pleasance, E.; Greenman, C.; Menzies, A. et al. (2007). "Architectures of somatic genomic rearrangement in human cancer amplicons at sequence-level resolution" . Genome Research 17 (9): 1296–303. doi : 10.1101/gr.6522707 . PMC 1950898 . PMID 17675364 .
- ^ Mannucci, Armando; Sullivan, Kevin M.; Ivanov, Pavel L.; Gill, Peter (1994). "Forensic application of a rapid and quantitative DNA sex test by amplification of the X-Y homologous gene amelogenin". International Journal of Legal Medicine 106 (4): 190–3. doi : 10.1007/BF01371335 . PMID 8038111 .
- ^ Hedges, Dale J; Walker, Jerilyn A; Callinan, Pauline A; Shewale, Jaiprakash G; Sinha, Sudhir K; Batzer, Mark A (2003). "Mobile element-based assay for human gender determination". Analytical Biochemistry 312 (1): 77–9. doi : 10.1016/S0003-2697(02)00430-X . PMID 12479838 .
