We offer a highly sensitive and reproducible dielectric-spectroscopy assay of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence on a platform of quantum graphene-like structures arranged on nanoporous alumina to correctly identifying an infectious agent in a native double-stranded (ds) DNA. The hybridization of complementary target DNA with probe DNA in the sensor sensitive layer leads to penetration of the formed singlestranded (ss) target DNA into the underlayer nanoporous anodic alumina through the nanocavities of LB-film from organometallic complexes. This results in linking of MWCNT ends, shielding of Helmholtz double layer and following decrease of electrical capacitance of the sensor. The novel electrochemical impedimetric DNA sensor with selforganized multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) bundles decorated by organometallic complexes as transducer has been utilized to detect the viral DNA in the biological samples of patients with virus infection at DNA concentration as low as 1.0-1.3 ng/μL.

No abstract

So far, no versatile set of reference genes for normalizing real-time polymerase chain reaction data has been identified. Numerous studies focusing the selection of reference genes for specific purposes frequently fail to elaborate a suitable selection strategy. In a number of such studies, the stage of selecting reference genes is ignored due to either its high cost or other reasons. As a result, the normalization of data is carried out using genes, which have previously shown their effectiveness under other, sometimes completely different, experimental conditions. In this work, we aim to study variations in the level of mRNA expression of several genes, some of which are commonly used to normalize RT-PCR data. As special conditions, modeling of rat liver fibrosis with thioacetamide was used.In our experiment, when considering the process of fibrogenesis as a whole, the optimal reference genes were found to be hes1 and sdha. However, when focusing on specific stages of fibrosis, a pair of genes should be selected depending on the stability indicators. At the initial fibrogenesis stages, sdha and hprt can be used. The hes1 gene is suitable as a reference gene, when the average Cq value of the target genes is approximately 29 cycles (as in hes1). Hes1 should be used with care when working in the Cq ranges of target genes of 26–29 and above 30, since the error is likely to increase. Following the same principle, the optimum Cq value for the sdha gene was observed to be 27, although the Cq range of 24–27 is also acceptable. At the same time, when working in the Cq range of above 28, the use of sdha may be associated with an increase in calculation errors.

Epigenetic changes are currently considered to be the main determinants of the psycho-emotional state of a person. In this work, we studied the level of methylation of 24 target CpG sites in the DNA of three psychoemotionally different groups of Belarusian population representatives: the control group of conditionally healthy volunteers, patients of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Mental Health with personality disorders, and representatives of the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Belarus Republic. Statistically significant differences between the groups were found for 11 CpG sites located in the promoter regions of eight genes of the brain neurotransmitter systems responsible for the psycho-emotional status of a person — FKPB, COMT, CACNA1C, HTR2A, OXTR, NR3C1, CRH, and SKA2. The most significant differences in the level of methylation were established for the target sites of genes encoding serotonin and oxytocin receptors, HTR2A and OXTR, the analysis of which can be of great practical importance for medicine and forensics.

No abstract