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Background: Hemoglobinopathies are mutations resulting in abnormal globin chain structure; some have clinically significant outcomes such as anemia or reduced lifespan. Five β-globin mutations are (c.20A>T, p.E6V), (c.19G>A, p. E6K), (c.79G>A, p.E26K), (c.364G>C, p.E121Q), and (c.364G>A, p.E121K), resulting in HbS (sickle-cell hemoglobin), HbC, HbE, HbD-Los Angeles, and HbO-Arab, respectively. One α-globin mutation is (c.[207C>G or 207C>A], p.N68K), resulting in HbG-Philadelphia., Methods: HPLC-ESI-MS/MS analysis of dried-blood spot (DBS) punches from newborns extracted with a trypsin-containing solution provides greater than 90% coverage of α-, β-, and γ-globin amino acid sequences. Because the (c.20A>T, p.E6V), (c.19G>A, p. E6K), (c.79G>A, p.E26K), (c.364G>C, p.E121Q), (c.364G>A, p.E121K), and (c.[207C>G or 207C>A], p.N68K) mutations generate globin peptides with novel amino acid sequences, detecting one of these peptides in DBS extracts is indicative of the presence of a hemoglobinopathy in the newborn., Results: The method described here can distinguish normal β-globin peptides from the mutant HbS, HbC, HbE, HbD-Los Angeles and HbO-Arab peptides, as well as normal α-globin peptide from the mutant HbG-Philadelphia peptide, allowing the identification of unaffected heterozygotes such as HbAS, and of compound heterozygotes such as HbASG-Philadelphia., Conclusions: This HPLC-ESI-MS/MS analytical approach provides information that is not available from traditional hemoglobin analyses such as isoelectric focusing and HPLC-UV. It is also capable of determining the amino acid sequence of hemoglobin peptides, potentially allowing the detection of numerous hemoglobinopathies resulting from point mutations., (Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The analysis of temporal and spatial patterns of gene expression is critically important for many kinds of developmental studies, including the construction of gene regulatory networks. Recently, multiplex, fluorescent, whole mount in situ hybridization (multiplex F-WMISH), applied in combination with confocal microscopy, has emerged as the method of choice for high-resolution, three-dimensional (3D) mapping of gene expression patterns in developing tissues. We have developed an image analysis tool, GeneExpressMap (GEM), that facilitates the rapid, 3D analysis of multiplex F-WMISH data at single-cell resolution. GEM assigns F-WMISH signal to individual cells based upon the proximity of cytoplasmic hybridization signal to cell nuclei. Here, we describe the features of GEM and, as a test of its utility, we use GEM to analyze patterns of regulatory gene expression in the non-skeletogenic mesoderm of the early sea urchin embryo. GEM greatly extends the power of multiplex F-WMISH for analyzing patterns of gene expression and is a valuable tool for gene network analysis and many other kinds of developmental studies., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)