Biomedical subjects

F A Chiafari

Publications and source records attributed to F A Chiafari.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

How frequent is heteropaternal superfecundation?

A newly discovered case of heteropaternal superfecundation (HS) is reported. Three HS cases were found in a parentage test database of 39,000 records. The frequency of HS among dizygotic twins whose parents were involved in paternity suits is 2.4%. Although the study population appears similar to the general population with respect to twinning data, inferences about the frequency of HS in other populations should be drawn with caution.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Two-man and two-sibling paternity cases.

Traditional genetic marker systems rarely fail to resolve paternity disputes when two or more men are accused, except when men are brothers. A sibling of the biologic father may not be excluded by these laboratory tests and sometimes yields calculated odds of paternity that are equal to or higher than the true male parent. Resolved two-brother cases were compared with resolved cases involving two unrelated men. In each case, the residual odds of paternity were determined for each man and the greater was divided by the lesser to produce a paternity fraction. The paternity fraction is a useful indicator of biologic parentage when it exceeds a value of 10 (log10 of-the-odds score greater than or equal to 1). Tests for alleles at highly heterozygous loci are indicated in initial laboratory evaluations of cases involving brothers. Human leukocyte antigen and variable number of tandem repeat polymorphisms appear suitable.

Alleles↗

PubMed1992

Technical progress in parentage analysis.

At the turn of the 20th century, Mendel's laws were found to be applicable to human blood groups. Within two decades, blood group genetics were applied to problems of parentage. Expansion of immunohematology into leukocyte antigen identification produced the single most informative, expressed polymorphism. About the same time, analysis of a great number of soluble protein polymorphisms followed advances in electric separation methods, enzymology, and immunochemistry. As new, independent loci were discovered, the power to exclude the falsely accused increased, and it became possible to apply Bayesian principles to determined probabilities of biologic relationships. The revolution in nucleic acid technology has dramatically improved analysis and statistical inferences. By the turn of the 21st century, laboratories should be able to determine biologic parentage with virtual certainty.

Blood Group Antigens↗

PubMed1990

Parentage analysis by endonuclease shattering of hypervariable DNA.

Single-locus DNA probes for tandem repeat sequences are now used in conjunction with particular endonucleases to characterize heritable restriction fragment lengths in parentage tests. Southern blots of this type, however, demonstrate only two attributes of an allele: its length and the presence of nucleotide sequences that are complementary to the probe. Not all restriction fragments of the same apparent length that react with the same probe are identical. Differences between comigrating fragments can be detected by the selection of a restriction enzyme that recognizes sites in a subset of the repeat sequences, and the information content of these loci is therefore increased. This report describes a paternity case in which two brothers appeared, after DNA phenotyping using Hinf I, to be the father. A second phenotyping using Hae III excluded one of the brothers.

Alleles↗

PubMed1981

SP02 particles mediating transduction of a plasmid containing SP02 cohesive ends.

SP02 particles that mediate transduction of plasmid pPL1010, a 4.6-megadalton derivative of pUB110 containing an Eco RI endonuclease-generated fragment of SP02 deoxyribonucleic acid that spans the cohesive ends, exhibit three unusual features: the transducing particles have a lower buoyant density than infectious particles; the transduction of pPL1010 occurs at high efficiency; and the transducing activity of the particles is relatively resistant to ultraviolet irradiation when the recipient is recombination proficient. Evidence is presented which indicates that SP02(pPL1010) particles carry the plasmid predominantly as a linear multimer having a molecular mass comparable to that of infectious SP02 deoxyribonucleic acid (ca. 31 megadaltons). The plasmid monomers in the linear multimer appear oriented in the same polarity. The buoyant density difference between infectious and transducing particles appears to be due mainly to the buoyant density difference between pPL1010 (1.699 g/cm3) and SP02 deoxyribonucleic acid (1.702 gm/cm3).

Bacillus subtilis↗

PubMed1981

High-frequency elimination of SP02 prophage from Bacillus subtilis by plasmid transformation.

Transformation of competent Bacillus subtilis lysogenic for SP02 with any of three plasmids (pCM194, pUB110, pAM77) generates drug-resistant transformants of which 5 to 20% have lost the infectivity and immunity associated with the SP02 prophage. Such cured derivatives can be again lysogenized with SP02 and again cured by introduction of a different plasmid. Elimination of the SP02 prophage was not detected when plasmids were introduced by PBS1 transduction or by transformation of protoplasts. Similarly, transformants of B. subtilis selected for chromosome markers retained the prophage. The phi 105 prophage was not eliminated from competent B. subtilis transformed with plasmids.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗