Unanswered Questions
13
votes
0answers
99 views
Phagemid display
If I'm using a bacteriophage for phage display and I'm trying to avoid avidity effects by using a helper phage what would be the best way to maintain a large library size while keeping everything ...
11
votes
0answers
102 views
How straightforward is in vitro compartmentalization?
in vitro compartmentalization (IVC) is one of those technologies that everyone knows about, talks about, but never actual does due to the rather technical difficulties in setting the system up. I was ...
10
votes
1answer
283 views
Alternatives to TBE buffer for denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of DNA and RNA?
I just stumbled upon an article promoting 10 mM sodium borate as an alternative to the well-known TAE and TBE buffers for agarose gel electrophoresis of DNA (Brody & Kern, 2004). They claim that ...
9
votes
1answer
88 views
Protein data bank syntax: Can two protein secondary structures “overlap”?
I have a technical question regarding the syntax in Protein Data Bank files. In the protein with PDB# 1AE9 (pdb file), there are two lines in the .pdb file:
...
8
votes
0answers
82 views
How would a warm winter affect maple sap production?
The past winter (2011-2012) was warmer than usual.
Trees are normally tapped in late February when the daily maximum temperature goes above freezing. However, assuming that there have been ...
7
votes
0answers
40 views
Do marine deep sea life forms exhibit circadian rhythms? If so, what entrains them?
I've been reading a lot about circadian rhythms, when suddenly this question popped into my head: do circadian rhythms exist for deep sea organisms (3000 ft / 1000 meters+)?
For land mammals, the ...
7
votes
0answers
53 views
Can jellyfish improve Black Sea environment?
According to this study, cited by many popular science magazines, jellyfish and other, smaller animals can contribute to the vertical ocean stir as much as currents do.
Black Sea chemistry and ...
7
votes
2answers
120 views
Does pheomelanin have a useful biological function?
Melanin is a natural pigment that is categorized into two main forms, eumelanin and pheomelanin. It's well documented in the science literature that increased eumelanin levels reduces the risk of ...
7
votes
0answers
193 views
Rosetta ab initio prediction and protein-protein interaction fitness help
I have designed several proteins which I predict have interactions with another protein using the sequence based Conjoint Triad Method. I would like to know which ones structurally are predicted to ...
7
votes
0answers
57 views
paralogue genes in genome-wide association studies?
Has anybody tested if there is an over-representation of significant paralogous copies of genes -- either tandemly-arranged or in different chromosomes -- in the list of significantly associated genes ...
7
votes
1answer
139 views
Why are some menstrual cycles irregular?
A friend of mine asked me this today, and I didn't know. I remember studying the menstrual cycle a few years ago, but I can't remember the details (other than it was very hormone-related), and so I ...
7
votes
0answers
90 views
Why do animal teeth get darker if exposed?
I was wondering why the teeth of cats (And dogs, as far as I know, plus possibly some other animals or even humans) get darker if they are exposed to air / light?
Example:
(See the lower end of ...
6
votes
1answer
55 views
How is the exogenous DNA protected from degradation during bacterial transformation?
During transformation, a bacterium can take up DNA from its environment. A small fraction of bacterial species are known to be naturally competent, meaning that they can engage in this sort of ...
6
votes
1answer
59 views
What is the best way to express two proteins in a mammalian cell?
I have two proteins and I will be preparing a vector with both genes for stable transfection. Each protein will have their own promoter and I will use piggyBac vector to insert a single cassette with ...
6
votes
0answers
57 views
Is 1 g/l living biomass for a Biogas fermenter plausible?
A usual number for a healthy biogas fermenter is $10^9 - 10^{10}/mL$ Bacteria, 10-15% of which would be methanogenic archae. Exceptionally healthy fermenters have more total bacteria and up 25% ...
