Molecular cell biology

Basic Food Microbiology

admin — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 00:49:15 +0000

Microorganisms are small, mostly single-celled organisms competent of swift procreation in suitable evolution surroundings. Those microorganisms essential in the food industry consist of the yeasts, bacteria, molds, protozoans, and viruses. Numerous microorganisms are beneficial and carry out valuable tasks such as the rising of breads, sugars fermentation to alcohol, assistance during production of cheese from milk and decomposition of organic matter to refill nutrients in the soil. Microorganisms may also trigger spoilage of foods and turn them unfit for human consumption. Every year millions of dollars are being spent by the food businesses because of food spoilage. At times microorganisms could be detrimental. Such microorganisms are known as pathogens and initiate twenty four to eighty one million cases of diseases from foods in the America yearly. Limited information was gathered about these life forms until the last century. Now, it is a known fact that microorganisms can be in almost all objects. It was Pasteur who discovered that microorganisms can be removed as when a can of food is hermetically sealed. (more…)

Gene Tracking Follows Cells from Embryo to Adult

admin — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 00:14:23 +0000

Every tooth can be impliedly deemed as wisdom tooth when its basic cells are to be considered as the decisive aspect. Scientists have created an advanced genetic trailing approach that permits them to track the journey of cells as they flow from the embryonic mouse brain to the emergent body as well as the elemental jaw where they play a role to the development of teeth and sustaining compositions. The earliest time a team of embryonic cells has been labeled and tracked all throughout their formation until in their ultimate destiny. The research study was a joint endeavor of quite a few institutions under the leadership of Dr. Yang Chai from the University of Southern California. The research study was partly sponsored by the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research. (more…)

Plant Tissue Culture Research

admin — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:47:46 +0000

The article deals with the research study on plant tissue culture with the intention of explaining the things being done, and things that can be done. It discussed the importance of the culture, the recent changes or improvements of its applications, the various techniques applied, the different materials and equipment being used in performing the plant tissue cultures, and the numerous preparations prior to the plant tissue culture.

Traditional plant propagation method has been altered by the introduction of plant tissue culture. The term ‘micropropagation’ best suggests the procedure of plant tissue culture being practiced nowadays. It permits the growth of huge numbers of plants from tiny pieces of the stock of plant in only a short span of time. Original tissue pieces can be obtained from shoot tip, leaf, lateral bud, stem, or root tissue of the plant. The plant from which the tissue to be cultured was acquired is not destroyed. The growth can be observed continually from proliferation of lateral buds and adventitious roots to the differentiation of shoots directly from the callus.

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Animal Cell Division

admin — Thu, 24 May 2007 09:16:34 +0000

Cell division is the process by which a cell, called the parent cell, divides into two cells, called daughter cells. It is a small part of a large cell cycle. In meiosis, a cell is permanently transformed and cannot divide again. Cell division is the biological basis of life. For simple unicellular organisms such as the Amoeba, one cell division reproduces an entire organism. On a larger scale, cell division can create progeny from multicellular organisms, such as plants that grow from cuttings. Cell division also enables sexually reproducing organisms to develop from the one-celled zygote, which itself was produced by cell division from gametes. And after growth, cell division allows for continual renewal and repair of the organism. The primary concern of cell division is the maintenance of the original cell’s genome. Before division can occur, the genomic information which is stored in chromosomes must be replicated, and the duplicated genome separated cleanly between cells. A great work of cellular infrastructure is involved in keeping genomic information consistent between “generations”. (more…)

Cell Structures and History

admin — Thu, 24 May 2007 09:14:19 +0000

The petal of a flower or the skin on the back of a human hand may seem smooth and seamless, as if they were composed of a single, indistinct substance. In reality, however, many tiny individual units called cells make up these objects and almost all other components of plants and animals. The average human body contains over 75 trillion cells, but many life forms exist as single cells that perform all the functions necessary for independent existence. Most cells are far too small to be seen with the naked eye and require the use of high-power optical and electron microscopes for careful examination.. The most basic image sensor, the eye, was the only means humans had of visually observing the world around them for thousands of years. Though excellent for viewing a wide variety of objects, the power of the eye has its limits, anything smaller than the width of a single human hair being able to pass unnoticed by the organ. Therefore, when light microscopes of sufficient magnifying capability were developed in the late 1600s, a whole new world of tiny wonders was discovered. Electron microscopes, invented in the mid-twentieth century, made it possible to detect even tinier objects than light microscopes, including smaller molecules, viruses, and DNA. (more…)

Parts Animal Cell

admin — Thu, 24 May 2007 09:05:39 +0000

Animal cell- typical of a eukaryotic cell, enclosed by a plasma membrane and containing a membrane-bound nucleus and orgnelles. Unlike the eukaryotic cells of plants and fungi, animal cells do not have a cell wall. This feature was lost in the distant past by the single-celled organisms that gave rise to the kingdom of Animalia. Most cells, both animal and plant, range in size between 1 and 100 micrometers and are thus visible only with the aid of a microscope.The lack of a rigid cell wall allowed animals to develop a greater diversity of cell types, tissues, and organs. Specialized cells that formed nerves and muscles—tissues impossible for plants to evolve—gave these organisms mobility. The ability to move about by the use of specialized muscle tissues is a hallmark of the animal world, though a few animals, primarily sponges, do not possess differentiated tissues. Notably, protozoans locomote, but it is only via nonmuscular means, in effect, using cilia, flagella, and pseudopodia. The animal kingdom is unique among eukaryotic organisms because most animal tissues are bound together in an extracellular matrix by a triple helix of protein known as collagen. (more…)

Molecular Components of Cell

admin — Thu, 24 May 2007 09:03:25 +0000

Water and other simple matters contain small organic molecules, essential in these matters. The structures of these molecules are intimately related to their functions. There is much interest in the relationship of form and function among scientists involved in biology, molecular biologists, physicists and biochemists. When these small organic molecules are joined together, giant molecules are produced, and these are known as macromolecules. Macromolecules are polymers. Polymers are large molecules of many similar “units” linked together. These individual units are called monomers. The variation in the form of macromolecules is largely responsible for molecular diversity. Much of the variation that occurs both within an organism and among organisms can ultimately be traced to differences in macromolecules. Macromolecules can vary from cell to cell in the same organism as well as from one species to the next. Generally speaking, all macromolecules are produced from a small set of about 50 monomers. Different macromolecules vary because of the arrangement of these monomers. By varying the sequence, an incredibly large variety of macromolecules can be produced. (more…)

Polymerase Chain Reaction

admin — Thu, 24 May 2007 09:00:37 +0000

An extremely versatile technique for copying DNA is the polymerase chain reaction, also called PCR. The PCR allows a singe DNA sequence to be copied a million times, or altered in predetermined ways. It can be used to introduce restriction enzyme sites or to change, mutate particular bases of DNA. It can even be used to determine whether a particular DNA fragment is found in a c-DNA library. And even the basic PCR has many variations, like reverse transcription PCR, RT-PCR, for amplification of RNA, and more recently, a real- time PCR, qPCR, which allows for quantitative measurement of DNA or RNA molecule. In molecular cell biology, there are several principal tools used. Gel electrophoresis is one of the principal tools of molecular biology. The basic principle is that DNA, RNA, and proteins can all be separated using an electric field. In agarose gel electrophoresis, DNA and RNA can be separated based on size by running the DNA through an agarose gel. Proteins can be separated based on size using an SDS-PAGE gel. (more…)

Molecular Cell Biology

admin — Thu, 24 May 2007 08:57:29 +0000

The term molecular biology was first established in 1930 and coined by Warren Weaver. It embodies the study of cell at the molecular level, simply put a study of biology at the molecular level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry. Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interrelationship of DNA, RNA and protein synthesis and learning how these interactions are regulated. William Astbury described molecular biology as:”… not so much a technique as an approach, an approach from the viewpoint of the so-called basic sciences with the leading idea of searching below the large-scale manifestations of classical biology for the corresponding molecular plan. It is concerned particularly with the forms of biological molecules and is predominantly three-dimensional and structural - which does not mean, however, that it is merely a refinement of morphology - it must at the same time inquire into genesis and function.” (more…)