The inheritance of chemical phenotype in Cannabis sativa L.

Four crosses were made between inbred Cannabis sativa plants with pure cannabidiol (CBD) and pure Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) chemotypes. All the plants belonging to the F(1)'s were analyzed by gas chromatography for cannabinoid composition and constantly found to have a mixed CBD-THC chemotype. Ten individual F(1) plants were self-fertilized, and 10 inbred F(2) offspring were collected and analyzed. In all cases, a segregation of the three chemotypes (pure CBD, mixed CBD-THC, and pure THC) fitting a 1:2:1 proportion was observed. The CBD/THC ratio was found to be significantly progeny specific and transmitted from each F(1) to the F(2)'s derived from it. A model involving one locus, B, with two alleles, B(D) and B(T), is proposed, with the two alleles being codominant. The mixed chemotypes are interpreted as due to the genotype B(D)/B(T) at the B locus, while the pure-chemotype plants are due to homozygosity at the B locus (either B(D)/B(D) or B(T)/B(T)). It is suggested that such codominance is due to the codification by the two alleles for different isoforms of the same synthase, having different specificity for the conversion of the common precursor cannabigerol into CBD or THC, respectively. The F(2) segregating groups were used in a bulk segregant analysis of the pooled DNAs for screening RAPD primers; three chemotype-associated markers are described, one of which has been transformed in a sequence-characterized amplified region (SCAR) marker and shows tight linkage to the chemotype and codominance.

Reproducibility of HPV DNA Testing by Hybrid Capture 2 in a Screening Setting.

Within a large Italian randomized trial on new technologies for cervical cancer screening involving 7 laboratories with different levels of experience, an intralaboratory and interlaboratory quality control program for human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing by Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2; Digene, Gaithersburg, MD) was implemented. To monitor the hybridization and detection steps, target samples containing purified, concentration-defined, HPV DNA were introduced in each test run. Only 3 of 1,024 showed a mistake in a positive vs negative classification with a 1 relative light unit (RLU)/positive control specimen (PC) ratio cutoff. To monitor the preanalytic steps (particularly denaturation), blinded specimens (33 collected in PreservCyt (Cytyc, Boxborough, MA) and 36 in Specimen Transport Medium (STM, Digene) were centrally prepared, divided into aliquots, and sent to each laboratory. The multiple-rater scores for negative (<1 RLU/PC), low-positive (1 to <11 RLU/PC), and high-positive (> or =11 RLU/PC) samples, respectively, were 0.91, 0.60, and 0.69 with PreservCyt and 0.93, 0.87, and 0.90 with STM. Our data showed high reliability and reproducibility with HC2, with values higher for STM than ThinPrep (Cytyc) samples.

The virtual slide in the promotion of cytologic and hystologic quality in oncologic screenings.

A regional experience environment in virtual microscopy and digital pathology comprehending the digital cytology is presented. The project has been conducted in Emilia-Romagna and it has been planned for the promotion and the quality assessment in screening cytology and histology for the prevention of the tumors of uterine cervix, breast and colon-rectum cancers. During the project it has been envisaged the design of a dedicated picture archive and communication system (PACS) for cooperative diagnosis, didactics and training, teleconsulting, documentation of rare cases and pilot experiences; furthermore selected cases are catalogued in the PACS with the aim of the check of the diagnostic concordance in the oncologic screening.

Bacteriophage phi 29 early protein p17. Self-association and hetero-association with the viral histone-like protein p6.

Gene 17 of the Bacillus subtilis phage Phi29 is expressed early after infection, and it has been shown to be required at the very beginning of phage replication under conditions of low but not high multiplicity of infection. It has been proposed that, at the beginning of the infection, protein p17 could be recruiting limiting amounts of initiation factors at the viral origins. Once the infection process is established and the replication proteins reach optimal concentration, protein p17 becomes dispensable. In this paper we focused, on the one hand, on the study of protein p17 dimerization and the role of a putative coiled-coil region. On the other hand, we focused on its interaction with the viral origin-binding protein p6. Based on our results we propose that protein p17 function is to optimize binding of protein p6 at the viral DNA ends, thus favoring the initiation of replication and negatively modulating its own transcription.