A Butterfly and Biotechnology

Hi, Have a good time :) Last time I had explained you the procedure for "electroporation"  and now with those electroporated cells, you can extract the plasmid DNA. I'm not going to share the exact protocol here, but the mechanism behind the protocol we use in our lab. Generally, the following reagents are used for the extraction of plasmid DNA., 1) STET buffer 2)Lysozyme PUC19 3)RNAase 4)Phenol chloroform 5) Alcohol 6) Sodium acetate If you need the protocol, kindly mail me I'll send you the  protocol. Now, let us discuss the principle behind the usage of each of these reagents. STET buffer - contains Sucrose which helps in maintaining osmotic pressure; Triton X which helps in cleaving the cell wall; EDTA which acts as a chelating agent; Tris HCl is used as buffer. Lysozyme - cleaves the cell membrane and wall; RNAase- As  the name indicates, it cleaves RNA Phenol chloroform (buffer saturated- pH 8) - Phenol denatures proteins, Chloroform pr...

Hi, Thanks for visiting, I'm so happy that the traffic of my site is increasing day by day :) People are reading, my write ups too :) I'm little lazy nowadays to share whatever I learn, well, even now I'm feeling sleepy :P But, don't worry I'm gonna tell you something interesting before I sleep :) :D As the title says, it's about protein targeting. I was taught transcription and translation in detail in my molecular biology classes. It was very very interesting. And at the end of translation, I was explained about Protein targeting. Protein targeting: The proteins are transferred to various organelles inside the cell and also to outside of the cell by protein targeting. After the synthesis of the protein, it has to be transferred or transported to respective organelles. But, how the cell distinguishes the proteins which are to be transported to mitochondria, which are to be transported to chloroplast and to various organelles? How the cell di...

Cracking the genetic code! You know? Your DNA is made up of A,T,G,C (adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine) These four letter are repeated through out the sequence. This DNA codes for Protein to be specific amino acids. How your DNA is decoded? Your DNA undergoes translation, that is, it gets converted as RNA and further this RNA is converted into proteins by transcription. Translation? How it happens? DNA is a double helix as we all know. This double helix unwinds and now it has two trands, right? one strand is called a codon strand and the other is anti codon. The codon strand is the coding strand. So, you think that you mut translate this codon strand? But, it is not certainly. The RNA is formed "complementary" to the anticodon strand! You think, why? Here we go with the explanation. The word "complementary" has the importance here. Both the DNA strands are complementary to each other. As we know, the DNA has four nucleotide repeated through out...

You know, Phosphorous is very important for the better growth of many crops. Rice too needs phosphorous for its better growth. But, the major problem in our country (India) as well as the whole world is poor availability of Phosphorous in soil. We use different fertilizers because of this. The disadvantages of using fertilizers: Decreased soil fertility on long run Leeching of the fertilizer into water bodies leads to pollution. Alkalinity / acidity of the soil. We can even extend this list of disadvantages further. What’s the solution for this problem? Scientists had found a good solution for this problem. Kasalath, a variety of rice has a gene called PSTOL1 which gives the tolerance for the plant to survive even in soil with low phosphorus. Highlights of this gene: It gets expressed in roots thereby increasing the root proliferation Helps in producing roots of good length and surface area This improves yield about 60% When we introduce t...

Malaria is one of the well known diseases caused by mosquito bite (the female anopheles mosquito) Malaria is generally caused by four different Plasmodium species: P.vivax P.falciparum P.ovale P.malariae Mosquitoes act only as carriers, as we all know .We have to suffer badly if we are affected by malaria. But, you need not suffer from malaria, else we can say, you will not get affected with malaria at all, if you have sickle cell anaemia! Image: Google “Hey, you, don’t you have sense, for getting away from a disease you ask us to catch hold of other?”, is this the question peeping out from your mind right now? If yes, go ahead and read. Yes, as I said already, you won’t be affected by malaria if you are a person with sickle cell anaemia. But, don’t worry; there is another possible way too, to avoid malaria. When you have the genes responsible for sickle cell anaemia (is a genetic disorder in which the Red Blood Cells will be sickle shaped ...

Hi, I'm gonna share you an article which I read in Science column of a magazine. Here we go! We are all aware about "Global Warming". Agriculture is affected much because of this. We are in water shortage. Due to Global warming, plants are affected and yield is decreasing all over the world. To overcome this problem, "GM" (Genetically modified) plants were preferred to the "wild" varieties. But the disadvantage of using GM plants is that they take much time to grow or they need more money. Moreover there are "different" opinions with "BT Brinjal". People don't prefer to consume them. Scientists had found a solution to this problem. "Microbiome" is that solution.  What is Microbiome? Microbiome is a symbiotic group of Bacteria, Virus and fungi. They have a symbiotic relationship among themselves and also with the plants.  This Microbiome was first found in the plants surviving extreme conditions of tem...

Hi, Today am gonna give certain tips for Plant tissue(PT) culture medium preparation. The main parameter to be considered in plant tissue culture medium preparation is "Sterility". Your medium has to be very sterile. I could say, when you complete your medium preparation, 75% of your project or experiment is over. I received a mail questioning the "Alternative for inositol" Inositol - This is added as a stimulator to the PT medium. This is not a "must" component. But, this in certain plants promote growth. Image courtesy - Google The essential component for promoting cell growth is Thiamin. It's a vitamin which is basically required for growth of most plants. It is normally used at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 10.0 mg/liter. Coconut water, orange juice, malt extracts etc., are also added to PT medium as organic supplements. You know better alternative for inositol? Then, Comment, share your knowledge :) Wish you a happy day :) ...