RNA splicing

It is well known that all organisms require at least some water to survive, even the most hardy creature on the planet earth, the tardigrade, Hypsibius dujardini, which can survive near complete dehydration, exposure to extreme radiation, vacuum, temperature and pressure, must be rejuvenated with water if it is to resume life after near complete desiccation (Gabriel, et al. 2007). H. dujardini, famous for surviving some of the harshest conditions of any organism we know of, is a perfect example…

The fifth chapter of Interplay centers itself around the principle of language, and how it so greatly effects interpersonal communication. One of the concepts that stuck out to me from this chapter was the nature of language, and how language is rule-governed. There are both phonological rules and syntactical rules, which respectively mean “how sounds are combined to form words” and “the way symbols can be arranged,” which are simply how the language is organized and interpreted to their…

In bioturbation literature, it is often assumed that microbially-mediated processes have been affected by bioturbation, with no analysis of the microbial community (Kristensen, 1984, Kristensen, 1985, Kristensen and Blackburn, 1987, Gilbert et al., 1998, Christensen et al., 2000, Michaud et al., 2006, Bonaglia et al., 2014). For example, variations in microbial nutrient remineralisation (Renz and Forster, 2013), and declines in sediment functioning under reduced pH conditions (Widdicombe and…

would later be placed in a database that would be available to the scientific community. Hence sometimes the human microbiome project may be called a community project. One of the key methods used in the project was the targeting of 16s ribosomal RNA gene sequences these were used as taxonomic makers during the finding of microbial communities. Another method that was used during the project was whole genome shotgun metagenomic sequencing. These methods were used to obtain more accurate data…

A genotypic method uses molecular techniques to identify bacteria by doing DNA or RNA analysis of the bacterium’s genome ("Conventional Bacterial Identification Methods", 2013). The 16S rRNA gene sequences provides species-specific signature sequences useful for bacterial identification ("16S Ribosomal RNA Sequencing Theory”, 2016). The 16s rRNA gene sequence uses a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify a specific DNA target from a mixture…

Introduction: Bacteria are very diverse and are part of the prokaryotic domain. Some bacteria can be harmful, but others can also be beneficial in many ways. There are bacteria everywhere on Earth; places that you would think would have bacteria, like your gastrointestinal tract or our skin (Wenner, 2007). Although bacteria are small in size and are a simple cell organism, it is essential to life. There are different ways in how to distinguish and classify bacteria. One way is you can look…

PCR is a common practice used to amplify a certain region of DNA. In this experiment, PCR was used to amplify the 16S ribosomal RNA gene of the bacteria. This locus was used because it is one that evolves slowly in bacteria. A Taq polymerase is used for this PCR because of the temperatures the reaction goes through. The16S rRNA primers used in this PCR, are complimentary to sequences…

smaller. This new friend would be called RNA, and through gene expression, would create a polypeptide. DNA decided, that in order to insure the completion of gene expression, she would create messenger RNA that would be called mRNA for short. The process of created this new mRNA was called transcription and would use the information DNA possessed. First, DNA had to decide which gene to transcribe, and because it was her first time transcribing RNA, she decided to transcribe a short…

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) or Steinert disease is a rare genetic multisystem disorder. Typical symptoms are delayed relaxation of muscles (myotonia) and slowly increased muscle weakness (dystrophy). It also affects the eye, heart, endocrine system, and central nervous system [1]. The prevelance is estimated at 1:10,000 [2]. DM1 is caused by an unstable (CTG) microsatellite repeat expansion within the DMPK (dystrophia myotonica protein kinase) 3- untranslated region (3’-UTR) in chromosome…

protection from degradation, and provides a barrier from harmful effects. In order for DNA to be replicated, the DNA helix must be unwound. DNA helicase breaks apart the hydrogen bonds between the base pairs of the strands. Next, short strands of RNA, called the RNA primers, are synthesized by an enzyme called primase. This provides a 3’ OH group for enzyme called DNA polymerase to begin replication. Without the 3’ OH group DNA polymerase would not be able synthesis DNA. The DNA polymerase binds…