ABSTRACT
The autism spectrum disorders [ASD] are amongst the most heritable complex disorders. Although there have been many efforts to locate the genes associated with ASD risk, many has been remained to be disclosed about the genetics of ASD. Scrutiny's have only disclosed a small number of de novo and inherited variants significantly associated with susceptibility to ASD. These only comprise a small number of total genetic risk factors. Some studies confirm the contribution of mitochondrial genome mutations to the pathophysiology of the autism, but some other studies rejected such a contribution. In the current study we tried to scrutinize the association between mitochondrial tRNA genes mutations and the risk of Autism. DNA was extracted from the blood of 24 patients with ASD and 40 age-matched healthy controls from Special Medical Center in Tehran. 22 tRNA genes of mitochondrial genome were PCR amplified using 12 primer pairs and sequenced. Sequencing results were searched for mutations using clustalW Progran and then the association of mutations with the autism risk was assessed by statistical analysis using SPSS version 15. Many of the observed mutations were sporadic mutations without any significant relationship with the risk of autism, and the other mutations including those of high frequency showed no significant relationship with the risk of disease as well [P>0.05] except mutations 16126T>C [P=0.01], 14569G>A[P=0.02] and 1811A>G[P=0.04]. These three mutations were in the noncoding regions of the mitochondrial genome near tRNA genes. The mutation 16126T>C was in the mtDNA control region. Our study showed a significant relationship between the point mutations 16126T>C, 14569G>A and 1811A>G of the mitochondrial genome and the risk of autism
ABSTRACT
So far, recombinant antigens of HIV-1, the etiologic cause of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome [AIDS], have been widely used for the diagnosis and vaccine development. P17 or the matrix protein formed by the proteolytic cleavage of gag is strongly antigenic and is as conserved and immunogenic as p24. In some cases, antibodies to p17 are more prevalent than antibodies to p24 and the decline in the level of p17 antibodies is an earlier prognostic marker for disease progression than decline in the level of antibodies to p24. The aim of this study was to clone and express the gag derived p17 protein in soluble form in E. coli and then assess the immunoreactivity of produced recombinant p17. DNA sequence encoding p17 matrix protein was cloned from PTZ-gag53-IR vector that has the complete gag polyprotein sequence. The T7-promoter-based expression system used in this study was TOPO directional cloning strategy that expressed p17 matrix protein in fusion with thioredoxin in E. Coli. Purification of produced recombinant protein has been done using Ni-NTA nickel chelating agarose beads. Sequencing result of the cloned sequence showed that it belongs to CRF35_AD subtype of HIV-1 which is highly prevalent in Iran and Afghanistan. The immunoreactivity of produced recombinant p17 to sera from infected individuals showed 93.8% sensitivity and 100% specificity