Check out all the tutorials on Molecular Biology.
In this article, I briefly describe Northern blotting and its applications. Northern blotting It is a laboratory technique, which studies gene expression by detecting a specific RNA sequence in a blood or tissue sample. Northern blotting was first developed in 1977 by James Alwine, David Kemp, and George Stark at Stanford University. The name was … Read more >>
In this article, I briefly describe Southern blotting, which helps detect specific DNA sequences in a DNA sample. Southern Blotting Southern blotting is a technique used in a laboratory to detect specific DNA sequences in a DNA sample. The method is named after its inventor, the British biologist Edwin Southern. The transfer of DNA fragments … Read more >>
In this article, I briefly explain the eukaryotic transcription factors and their function. Transcription The process of synthesis of RNA from a DNA template is called transcription. It is the first step of gene expression, in which a particular segment of DNA is copied into RNA by the enzyme RNA polymerase. In both prokaryotes and … Read more >>
In this article, I briefly describe the types of general transcription factors and their functions. Transcription The process of synthesis of RNA from a DNA template is called transcription. It is the first step of gene expression, in which a particular segment of DNA is copied into RNA by the enzyme RNA polymerase. In both … Read more >>
In this article, I briefly describe mutagenesis and mutagenesis of cloned genes. Mutagenesis Mutagenesis is a process in which an organism changes its DNA. It results in gene mutation. Mutagenesis can be spontaneous or induced. Specified mutations in genes can be engineered and the effects of these mutations can be tasted. The availability of cloned … Read more >>
In this article, I briefly describe the organization of cloned genes. cDNA clones The cDNA clones synthesized using oligo(dT) as a primer, have a defined organization. The exact copy of an mRNA molecule is called a cDNA or complementary DNA. The well-characterized cDNA molecule binds with a befitting vector and the combination (vector containing the … Read more >>
In this article, I briefly describe the duplication of retrovirus in a host cell. The enveloped virus-Retrovirus These are enveloped viruses, that belong to the family Retroviridae. A retrovirus is an RNA virus duplicated in a host cell using the reverse transcriptase enzyme to produce DNA from its RNA genome. When the virus infects a … Read more >>
In this article, I briefly describe the various methods of DNA sequencing and their applications. DNA Sequencing The process of determining the order of nucleotides in DNA is called DNA sequencing. It determines the order of the four bases, i.e., adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine. The nucleotide sequence is the base of knowing a gene … Read more >>
In this article, I briefly describe restriction enzymes, their recognition sequences, and the frequency of recognition sequences. What are restriction enzymes? The enzyme that cleaves DNA at specific recognition sites, is called a restriction enzyme. These belong to the endonuclease group of enzymes. Identifying and manipulating restriction endonucleases in the 1960s and early 1970s made … Read more >>
In this article, I briefly describe the preparation of plasmid DNA. Plasmid DNA A plasmid is a small, circular, extrachromosomal DNA molecule in bacteria, which replicates independently. Chromosomes contain all the essential genetic information, whereas plasmids carry some additional genes, which aid in the survival of the organism. Plasmids provide some selective advantages such as … Read more >>