The Living World

Quadrapedal locomotion in Humans.

2008-05-28T00:23:00.000-07:00

In their paper entitled “Mutations in the very low-density lipoprotein receptor VLDLR cause cerebellar hypoplasia and quadrupedal locomotion in humans”, which appeared in March 18th issue of PNAS, Ozcelik et al. shows that a mutation in very low-density lipoprotein receptor VLDLR lead to cerebellar hypoplasia and quadrupedal locomotion in humans. Fig. Phenotypic (A) and cranial

What is ChIP on Chip?

2008-05-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

What is ChIP on Chip? It is a deadly combination of Chromatin Immuno Precipitation with Microarray to provide a powerful technique for identifying the functional DNA elements within a genome. Functional elements can be promoters, silencers, enhancers, Chromatin domain boundaries, heterochromatin proteins, and histones etc, because these elements are normally bound with specific proteins like

What is PMSF?

2008-05-23T05:20:00.001-07:00

PMSF or phenylmethanesulphonylfluoride or phenylmethylsulphonyl fluoride is serine protease inhibitor. It is regular ingredient of most of the protein preparations. Preparation of PMSF solution PMSF is normally unstable in aqueous solutions. But highly stable and soluble in non-polar organic solvents like isopropanol, methanol, ethanol etc. PMSF is soluble (>= 1M) in polar organic solvents

Epigenetics and cancer

2008-04-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

REVIEW Anders H. Lund1,2,3 and Maarten van Lohuizen1,4 1 Division of Molecular Genetics, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, 1066CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands; 2 Biotech Research & Innovation Centre, Symbion Science Park, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark Abstract Epigenetic mechanisms act to change the accessibility of chromatin to transcriptional regulation locally and

Epigenetics: A Landscape Takes Shape

2008-04-23T13:54:00.001-07:00

Aaron D. Goldberg1, C. David Allis1, , and Emily Bernstein1, , 1Laboratory of Chromatin Biology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021, USA Available online 22 February 2007. Epigenetics has recently evolved from a collection of diverse phenomena to a defined and far-reaching field of study. In this Essay, we examine

Bioenergetics and Thermodynamics

2008-04-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

Bioenergetics is the quantitative study of the energy transductions that occur in living cells and of the nature and function of the chemical processes underlying these transductions. Although many of the principles of thermodynamics have been introduced in earlier chapters and may be familiar to you, it is worth reviewing the quantitative aspects of these principles. Biological Energy

Introduction to Bioenergetics

2008-04-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

Living cells and organisms must perform work to stay alive, to grow, and to reproduce themselves. The ability to harness energy from various sources and to channel it into biological work is a fundamental property of all living organisms; it must have been acquired very early in the process of cellular evolution. Modern organisms carry out a remarkable variety of energy transductions, conversions

Structure of a prokaryotic cell : E. coli

2008-04-21T11:02:00.000-07:00

Bacterial cells share certain common structural features, but also show group-specific specializations (fig). E. coli is a usually harmless inhabitant of the intestinal tract of human beings and many other mammals. The E. coli cell is about 2 μm long and a little less than 1 μm in diameter. It has a protective outer membrane and an inner plasma membrane that encloses the cytoplasm and the

Basic Structure of Antibodies

2008-04-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

Blood can be separated in a centrifuge into a fluid and a cellularfraction. The fluid fraction is the plasma and the cellularfraction contains red blood cells, leukocytes, andplatelets. Plasma contains all of the soluble small moleculesand macromolecules of blood, including fibrin and otherproteins required for the formation of blood clots. If theblood or plasma is allowed to clot, the fluid

Nobel Prizes in immunology research

2008-04-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

Year Recipient Country Research 1901 Emil von Behring Germany Serum antitoxins 1905 Robert Koch Germany Cellular immunity to tuberculosis 1908 Elie Metchnikoff Russia Role of phagocytosis (Metchnikoff) and Paul Ehrlich Germany antitoxins (Ehrlich) in immunity 1913 Charles Richet France

Ploynucleotide chain: Basic Structure

2008-04-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

Key pointsA nucleoside consists of a purine or pyrimidine base linked to position 1 of a pentose sugar.Positions on the ribose ring are described with a prime (') to distinguish them.The difference between DNA and RNA is in the group at the 2' position of the sugar. DNA has a deoxyribose sugar (2'–H); RNA has a ribose sugar (2'–OH).A nucleotide consists of a nucleoside linked to a phosphate group

DNA is the genetic material of animal cells

2008-04-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

When DNA is added to populations of single eukaryotic cells growing in culture, the nucleic acid enters the cells, and in some of them results in the production of new proteins. When a purified DNA is used, its incorporation leads to the production of a particular protein (Pellicer et al., 1978). Figure depicts one of the standard systems. Although for historical reasons these experiments are

DNA is the genetic material of viruses

2008-04-21T08:22:00.000-07:00

Having shown that DNA is the genetic material of bacteria, the next step was to demonstrate that DNA provides the genetic material in a quite different system. Phage T2 is a virus that infects the bacterium E. coli. When phage particles are added to bacteria, they adsorb to the outside surface, some material enters the bacterium, and then ~20 minutes later each bacterium bursts open (lyses)

DNA is the genetic material of bacteria

2008-04-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

The idea that genetic material is nucleic acid had its roots in the discovery of transformation in 1928. The bacterium Pneumococcus kills mice by causing pneumonia. The virulence of the bacterium is determined by its capsular polysaccharide. This is a component of the surface that allows the bacterium to escape destruction by the host. Several types (I, II, III) of Pneumococcus have