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The mechanical properties of DNA play a critical role in many biological functions. For example, DNA packing in viruses involves confining the viral genome in a volume (the viral capsid) with dimensions that are comparable to the DNA persistence length. Similarly, eukaryotic DNA is packed in DNA-protein complexes (nucleosomes), in which DNA is tightly bent around protein spools. DNA is also tightly bent by many proteins that regulate transcription, resulting in a variation in gene expression that is amenable to quantitative analysis. In these cases, DNA loops are formed with lengths that are comparable to or smaller than the DNA persistence length. The aim of this review is to describe the physical forces associated with tightly bent DNA in all of these settings and to explore the biological consequences of such bending, as increasingly accessible by single-molecule techniques., ((c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

TT virus (TTV) was found in 1997 from a hepatitis patient without virus markers. However, the real impact of TTV on liver diseases remains uncertain to date. Due to the lack of suitable cell systems to support the growth of TTV, the biology of TTV is still obscure. This review tries to summarise the current status of TTV on aspects other than the taxonomic diversity of TTV. TTV was the first human virus with a single stranded circular DNA genome. TTV was considered to be a member of Circoviridae, but others suggested it conformed to a new family. TTV is distinct from ambisense viruses in the genus Circovirus, since the former genome is negative stranded. The genome structure of TTV is more related to chicken anaemia virus in the genus Gyrovirus, however, the sequence similarity is minimal except for a short stretch at 3816-3851 of TA278. Currently the working group is proposing the full name for TTV as TorqueTenoVirus and the TTV-like mini virus as TorqueTenoMiniVirus (TTMV) in a new genus Anellovirus (ring). TTVs are prevalent in non-human primates and human TTV can cross-infect chimpanzees. Furthermore, TTV sequences have been detected in chickens, pigs, cows and sheep. TTV can be transmitted by mother-to-child infection. However, within a year after birth, the prevalence reaches the same level for children born to both TTV-positive and TTV-negative mothers even without breast-feeding. The non-coding region surrounding a short 113 nt GC-rich stretch and occupying approximately one-third of the genome is considered to contain the putative replication origin. Three mRNAs are expressed by TTV, 3.0 and 1.2 and 1.0 kb species. A protein translated from the 3.0 kb mRNA is considered to be the major capsid protein as well as replicase. The nature of the proteins translated by the other two mRNAs are still putative., (Copyright 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Ultraviolet resonance Raman (UVRR) spectra of H2O and D2O solutions of the nucleoside (dA, dG, dC, dT) and aromatic amino acid (Phe, Trp, Tyr) constituents of DNA viruses have been obtained with laser excitation wavelengths of 257, 244, 238, and 229 nm. Using the 981 cm-1 marker of Na2SO4 as an internal standard, Raman frequencies and scattering cross sections were evaluated for all prominent UVRR bands at each excitation wavelength. The results show that UVRR cross sections of both the nucleosides and amino acids are strongly dependent on excitation wavelength and constitute sensitive and selective probes of the residues. The results provide a library of UVRR marker bands for structural analysis of DNA viruses and other nucleoprotein assemblies.