This year has been a fruitful one for my laboratory. Two areas of interest were pursued: Continuation of a human fovea cDNA library and radiation target analysis (RTA) of RNA. These have resulted in a number of papers in print, or in press. In collaboration with Dr. Ellis S. Kempner, we have shown that radiation target analysis, a useful technique for evaluating the mass of polypeptides, can also be used for nucleic acid analyses. However, unlike polypeptides, the energy of a high energy electron's impact is not transmitted longitudinally, along the spine of the molecule, but is dispersed within a relatively short interval, perhaps by interacting with the ribose lactone ring. RTA is thus useful for evaluating local nucleic acid structure and interactions. This work has resulted in a seminal paper that has generated great interest in the extramural community. This project has been completed at the NEI. The fovea is the region of acute vision in primates. Diseases of the fovea are responsible for the majority of cases of acquired untreatable blindness in the United States. In conjunction with Dr. Paul Wong, NEI, and Dr. Diane Borst, USUHS, an unamplified, human foveal cDNA library has been constructed. Characterization of the differences in regional retinal gene expression that are responsible for maintaining regional retinal function has begun. A number of mRNAs have been identified and are being pursued that are regionally (foveally) expressed. This project is being continued at the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Maryland School of Medicine.
