Introducing an Expanded Trinucleotide Repeat Tract into the Human Genome for Huntington's Disease Modeling In Vitro.

In neurodegeneration studies, researchers are faced with problems such as limited material availability and late disease manifestation. Cell models provide the opportunity to investigate molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis. Moreover, genome editing technologies enable generation of isogenic cell models of hereditary diseases. Our protocol outlines an approach for introducing an expanded CAG repeat tract into the first exon of the HTT gene, the Huntington's disease causing mutation. The protocol allows modeling the disease at various severity levels by introducing different numbers of CAG repeats. Furthermore, the protocol can be applicable for modeling other diseases caused by trinucleotide repeat expansion. It is important to note there are many difficulties with cloning repeated sequences and amplification of GC-rich regions. Here, we also propose troubleshooting options, which overcome these problems. The protocol is based on CRISPR/Cas9-mediated homologous recombination with a uniquely designed donor plasmid harboring an expanded CAG tract flanked with long homology arms. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: Design and assembling donor and CRISPR/Cas9-expressing plasmids Basic Protocol 2: Transfection of cells with plasmids and sorting GFP-positive cells Basic Protocol 3: PCR screening single-cell clones and validation of the mutant HTT expression.

Tuning the Fabrication of Nanostructures by Low-Energy Highly Charged Ions.

Slow highly charged ions have been utilized recently for the creation of monotype surface nanostructures (craters, calderas, or hillocks) in different materials. In the present study, we report on the ability of slow highly charged xenon ions (^{129}Xe^{Q+}) to form three different types of nanostructures on the LiF(100) surface. By increasing the charge state from Q=15 to Q=36, the shape of the impact induced nanostructures changes from craters to hillocks crossing an intermediate stage of caldera structures. A dimensional analysis of the nanostructures reveals an increase of the height up to 1.5 nm as a function of the potential energy of the incident ions. Based on the evolution of both the geometry and size of the created nanostructures, defect-mediated desorption and the development of a thermal spike are utilized as creation mechanisms of the nanostructures at low and high charge states, respectively.

The delight that work alone can give.

Robert "The Prof" Bedford provided medical services in South Australia for over 20 years, despite having no medical qualifications.