16S ribosomal RNA

experiments on white blood cells showed that the nuclein dissolved in weak alkalies but not in water and acids. Later studies demonstrated that all living organisms have DNA and that any kinds of cell such as hair, skin, or plant cells all have DNA. Plenty of research and experimentation went into solving the structure of DNA and the invention of paper chromatography allowed Erwin Chargaff (1905-2002) to make a contribution in establishing the structure of DNA and how it transmitted genetic…

Linus Pauling was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry 1954 "for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances"1 however he made significant discoveries in many areas of chemistry including physical and biochemistry. He also made several contributions to both theoretical and applied science from genetic diseases to diagnostic technology.2 Professor G. Hägg, member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry stated in 1954…

segments of DNA that contain short, repeating sequences. The repetitions are then followed by segments of DNA from the host DNA strand. A simple version, CRISPR-Cas9, has been modified to edit genomes. By delivering the Cas9 with a synthetic guide RNA (gRNA) into a cell, the cell's genome can be cut at a desired location, allowing existing genes to be removed and/or new ones added. CRISPR-cas9 is like a tiny pair of scissors that scientists can control. Once the strand of DNA is split the cell…

I was standing in the middle of the hall at Church on the Rock in Toronto, Canada, a completely foreign environment where I knew no one other than my father who stood beside me throughout a religious experience that has in some sense, changed my outlook on Christianity. From a young age my father had instilled the importance of faith within our household, motivating my family and I to attend church every Sunday and most importantly, to read the Bible and apply the principles to our daily life.…

differences, each silencing method has specific advantages and disadvantages. Two of the most currently understood methods of gene silencing are RNA interference (RNAi) and antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs). In RNAi, the molecules that identify the target mRNA are called small-interfering RNAs (siRNAs). These siRNAs are short, synthetically made double-stranded RNA molecules (Koenig et al. 2013). The combining of…

The ribosome reads information along the mRNA and brings the amino acid together with help from transfer RNA. Transfer RNA has a cloverleaf shape with base-paired arms and an attached anticodon sequence. At the bottom of the tRNA there is an anticodon that pairs with a codon on mRNA. A codon is a sequence of three nucleotides. Codons are read, in order, by tRNA,…

Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) belongs to the Old World arenavirus family of enveloped viruses (Buchmeier et al., 2007). LCMV in particular has served as model organism from many significant studies in the field of immunology such as the Nobel Prize winning study of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) by Zinkernagel and Doherty (1975). LCMV’s natural reservoirs are the common household rodents (Traub, 1936). Household mice have shown to attain persistent asymptomatic LCMV…

pancreatic adenocarcinoma[1, 2]. A major hindrance towards development of therapies against pancreatic ASC is that the molecular mechanisms underlying its pathogenesis remain poorly characterized. In this proposal I will take advantage of the expertise on RNA biochemistry and molecular biology that I have acquired during my doctoral training and combine it with the in vivo approaches developed by the Ventura lab to investigate the potential role of non-sense mediated decay and of the UPF1 gene…

interact and generate a phenotype that was not expected in light of each of the gene’s effect [1]. In mammalian cells, most of the genetic interaction assays use RNA interference (RNAi) techniques [3], which is method of silencing a gene based in the degradation of specific messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules. Described initially in plants, RNA interference was also observed in most of the eukaryotic organisms, such as insects, mice, and humans.…

First, I would like to say that the topic I chose is very interesting and in fact I really like this topic. Before choosing my topic I had rough idea about what CRISPR was and how it was being used in recent times to engineer everything around us by small steps. Before my research findings I had an idea what CRISPR was such as how it was being used around the world on modifying genes, and engineering new species by deleting or replacing the genes that were unwanted by that organism. What I knew…