Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

After relentlessly bugging my profs about tips and methods to study for this test the only info i have gathered is that it has a ~65% failure rate and without purchasing one of the old test from ACS there is really no way to study for it. However, it was recommended to me that the semester I have to take this test to take Metabolism concurrently (which i am doing now) since around 40% of the test covers this subject. This test is worth 30% of my final grade and there will be no curve. Does ANYONE have any kind of advice, tips, hints, or anything of the sort that might be of some help? ANYTHING would be greatly appreciated:embarass:

I added heparanase to cleave sulfated GAG chains or add chlorate to inhibit sulfation and still have radioactively labeled sulfates getting incorporated. What could it be getting incorporated into? Thanks!

In the most accepted hypothesis of oxidative phosphorylation, P . Mitchel gave an account on d transport of electrons in d electron transport chain on d inner membrane of d mitochondria , d generation of electrochemical gradient that drives d synthesis of ATP, the presence of d enzyme ATPase (a membrane bound protein in the inner membrane of the mitochondria) and hence the generation of ATP. In Rackers experiment, the membrane was distorted to isolate d fragments of d membrane from d protein which was d F1 Fo ATPase. On his conclusion, electron transport was possible on d fragments, witout phosphorylation, and there was phosphorylation by d protein fraction and then,d …

Quite recently, I've been reading through a (impudent and screwy) biochemistry text, and was surprised that in contrast to the D and L method, used to classify enantiomers, based on how they react to polarized light, some mysterious R and S method is currently being used alternatively. Sadly, the text provides no reference to this second system. What is the R and S method based upon? And what do R and S even stand for (in relation to isomers of course, as in relation to myself, they would stand for restless and something else, which ought not be said (think along the lines of vulgar language, for a general idea)) ? Some answers would be most appreciated. Once again I ask …

Hi, Could you recommend me some books or webpages about fungi and fungal biochemistry? I'm looking for general knowledge about fungi.

Hello everyone does anybody know how corning dishes are manifactured? I know the side where cells grow is treated to have some "roughness". I'd like to know their size and how they're made (electric current or whatever) Thank you all Ty

Hi all! Has any one ever worked with live cell imaging? Basically I have to microinject my cells with a fluorescent dye and see what happens. If anybody has any insight about topics like - will my cell be alive and healty after the injection? - could the dye change the behaviour of my cells? - can plastic petri be used or do I need to seed on glass? Thanks in advance to anyone so kind to help!!

I know that Bacteriophages are used in the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe {Wikipedia}, and the US uses Antibiotics for the most part, if not for all the part, so what is better? What are the pros and cons? thanks.

Greetings to all, I've been reading up on some biochemistry recently, and one example in the text in regards to the importance of BPG, decreasing the haemoglobin molecule's affinity for oxygen, was in the human foetus, which in order to extract necessary oxygen from its mother, requires for its haemoglobin to have a greater oxygen affinity, and as such, the beta subunit, is replaced by a gamma subunit. The only difference between the two, lies in the fact that the gamma subunit does not allow for the binding of BPG, and thus allows for a higher affinity for oxygen. However, as human beings mature, and as we enter this world, becoming self- sufficient in our respiratory…

hi.. i need some help from the members who has some experience doing the real-time PCR... i'm planning to do the one-step REALTIME-PCR and i have bought the QuantiFast SYBR Green kit, Qiagen.. i have some questions about real-time PCR before i starting the experiment. the questions are :- 1) how to prepare the standard curve in real-time?? what template should i use to generate the standard curve?? DNA(plasmid DNA which contain my cDNA) @ RNA ?? 2) after i designing the primer, i testing it by doing RT-PCR and i successfully amplified the genes of interest with the expected sizes. but, in the gel picture (2% agarose), i found out that there are some smearin…

What are the real components of carbamoyl phosphate? When studying for my BC exam, specifically pyrimidine biosynthesis, I had some difficulty tracing back the origin of the various atoms in the pyrimidic ring. Numbering from 1 to 6, starting "down" and running clockwise, I realized atoms 1, 4, 5 and 6 (respectively 1 nitrogen and 3 carbons) came from aspartate but the two leftstanding (C2 and N3) were not that easy. Some sources say C2 comes from CO2, others from HCO3-, which one is it? Is CO2 transformed into HCO3- before the reaction? And is it true that, in fact, Carbamoyl phosphate is made from HCO3- and the glutamine's amide? Thanks in advance John

Drug descriptions, e.g. for prozac, adderall, cocaine etc, talk about how the substance increases the level of some substances in the brain. Let's say adderall and cocaine, I think, increase levels of dopamine. Presumably this has good sides to it, but let's say in the case of big cocaine doses apparently it's bad what with loss of receptors etc. Well, so I was wondering, is it possible to implement a drug treatment based on actual measured dopamine level in the brain so that the dopamine level is increased to where we want it to be (presumably some sort of "healthy" level observed in "normal" people) but no further? Well, and I guess a simpler question would be, can …

Hi All, does anyone have a protocol which they have used to successfully transform a plasmid into a staph species? I've tried 4 protocols in duplicate on 8 strains and I'm getting nowhere!! Thanks Jen

hi! All I am analyzing a transcription factor for its domains, I want to test if one motif about 12 residues long helps in DNA binding directly by making contacts with DNA or by affecting the the DNA contacting domains. Please let me know if there is a way to differentiate between these two possible functions. And if there is an example in literature of any such similar instance please let me know. Any information/input -much appreciated thanks a lot Rnn

Hi, I'm going to start my science-fair project for next year soon, and I have some questions in relation with proteins and experiments in lab... 1- Can a protein be extracted from something? What kind of material is used for that? 2- In lab tests, how can proteins be tested on cells? What kind of material again? I am particularly interested in the protein TRAIL (TNF related apoptosis induced ligand) and their potential in destroying tumors when being carried by stem cells (http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=100521). Can anyone tell me about these sorts of proteins? Thanks.

A recent breakthrough has shown that resveratrol (A red wine extract) seems to improve life span 15-20%. Makes obese mice virtually as healthy as normal mice. It seems that it also has preventative effects agains diabetes and prevents organ damange. These effect were recently observed in mice, and published in Nature. However the team from Harvard that published this study started with work in yeast, then fruitflies and worms, which all seem to have the same effect. So it seems virtually impossible that a simular effect wont be found in humans. Resveratrol is involved in increasing the expression of a gene involved in mitrochondrial development that has been p…

Hello, all! This fall, I will begin working on my PhD in biochemistry. My research interests have, until recently, mostly been in the realm of protein structure, function, and evolution. However, I am beginning to find that research in the area of abiogenesis is catching my interest. There really doesn't seem to be a ton of research going on though. Maybe I'm searching in the wrong places, but not many scientists appear to be very interested in the subject. I know that at the university I'll be attending in the fall, there is none going on. How is abiogenesis viewed by the scientific community? Is there much abiogenesis research going on in universities?

Hello, I know that ATP is the "fuel" of cells, is it possible to find a chemical reaction that convert ATP to usable electrical energy ? Thanks

I had mentioned in a previous thread the possibility of an overabundance of Type-III Collagen as being an aiding cause in the less than complete remodeling of skin. I was 'corrected' on this subject and was told only Type-I Collagen was present in dermal tissue. http://www.scienceforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=34945&highlight=chemical+scar I've come across several studies which are reviewing the role of Type-III Collagen in Dermal Scarring. eg. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1163841 Is there anything to be said about inducing a mild and general apoptosis in a Dermal Scar with a slightly more aggressive attack on Type-III …

I'm looking for scenically accurate information for novel I'm working on and wanted to ask the community members here if its possible to use regenerative wound dressing i.e. such as the matristem ( sp? ) technology produced by that company on Oprah ( acell ) and change it so it can be reapplied other ways . For example , an A-team or Mcgyver scenario if you will ,where theres only certain items available - one of those being perhaps one of these wound dressing bandages , but instead of applying it outside the body on a cut , the character needs to find a way of using the same attributes inside the body to repair a deep injury (lets say through a hypodermic needle or s…

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/science/21stem.html?_r=1&em&ex=1195966800&en=09f92cd386d8ea6e&ei=5087%0A here is a link to the article i read that talked about how 2 teams of scientists were able to create stem cells from skin cells. it talks about how they use a retrovirus to insert 4 genes into the nucleas essentially blanking the slate of the skin cells and making them stem cells. it doesnt really go into the process much from what i read. does anyone know how this could work? why is this not big now? it was posted in 2007 so i dont know whats happened with this research since then, is there a roadblock or something? i also just thought that its v…

Hi all, I was reviewing my biology from my first year of intro biology at undergrad today, and I came across something that perplexed me. How can one go from glucose to ring-shape and thus, form alpha or beta form? I searched Google and saw the chair conformation to really see why there are alpha and beta conformation, but like, how do you form two C-O bonds to form a ring with 5 carbons and 1 oxygen? Hopefully this is clear! I'm having hard time fathoming how this occurs.

Hey guys, So quite recently what with a bit of a sparked interest in biochemistry and human anatomy, I got myself a lovely biochemistry text, however reading through it, I've found numerous sections that are vague, and this is the first, and thus I have a question. I understand the nature of the formation of secondary structure in proteins, in the cases of alpha helices, and beta pleated sheets (and anti parallel), and from hat the text said, they are the most prevalent, however, then it stated the existence of other secondary structures, such as beta turns, and ohm loops, without bothering to reference formation, or the nature of these molecules. Can anyone please disc…

Was doing some research on Evolution and the origin of all living things and I wound up all the way back to single cell organisms. When I figured out what they were made up of I ended up at DNA the blue print for the creation of cell. Then I found out what DNA was made up of and I got to the point where I asked the questions “Why did the bits and parts that form the DNA Come together’’ and ‘‘Where do they get there information from to form together in such a way that they can give DNA a meaning.”

I'm currently doing some immunoblots and quantifying them using integrated densitometry. I've probed for my protein of interest and B-actin as the control housekeeping protein. I've also normalized the bands against the background signal. I want to combine the data from three separate membranes so that I can statistically analyse them (I'm being a little naughty, but I need to be able to confirm a previous finding from this). So I've run the blots in triplicate, and normalised the bands to the background. The question is whether I can use the relative ratio of b-actin to protein of interest as a general (i.e. semi-quantitative measure) of expression or wheth…