Questions tagged [dna]
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the carrier of genetic information, including for all known living organisms. The only known exceptions are RNA viruses.
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Meaning of ‘motif’ in molecular biology
I would like to understand the meaning of the term motif as used in molecular biology.
In an article in Nature Biotechnology, Patrik D’haeseleer states:
Sequence motifs are short, recurring patterns ...
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Do same DNA sequences lead to the same proteins in all organisms? [duplicate]
I'm not a biologist, but I am curious about a particular question about DNA.
As I understand DNA encodes proteins using special sequences of nucleotides and cells decode these proteins from DNA during ...
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Why doesn't RNA polymerase just rotate?
I read A little help understanding DNA supercoiling , Understanding DNA supercoiling , and Why does underwinding create topological strain of DNA? , but there's still something I don't get. ...
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Does DNA have 5 nitrogenous bases?
Does DNA have 5 nitrogenous bases? I believe they are 5 because Uracil is not the same thing as Guanine, because, first of all, uracil "replaces" thymine, not guanine. And second, uracil ...
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What are the prospects in synthetic biology, especially in the introduction of biological computers? [closed]
One of the interesting areas of synthetic biology is the so-called biological computers. A biological computer refers to an engineered biological system that can perform computer-like operations. I ...
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What is the mechanism through which fractals arise in plants and animals?
Many biological organisms -- such as trees, broccoli, and the blood vessels in animals -- can be approximately described using fractals.
What is the reason behind such fractals? Specifically, do we ...
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Will a Kozak sequence within a coding sequence interfere with eukaryotic expression?
I want to make a DNA vaccine for fish by using plasmid pcDNA3.1(+) with a bacterial antigen. Unfortunately, there is a Kozak sequence in the middle of my target gene.
I am concerned that this Kozak ...
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Is circular DNA the same as plasmids?
Chloroplasts have circular DNA, but would it be right to say that they have plasmids? Are plasmids and circular DNA even the same thing?
Thank you in advance.
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How do we know genes that are considered endogenous retroviruses are actually endogenous retroviruses and not just ordinary genes?
What makes these genes different as to be classed as an endogenous retrovirus? I've read the entirity of Wikipedia on retroviruses and didn't find the answer. I think it could be that these genes are ...
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How is the possibility of beneficial mutations ensured in the genome?
To ensure natural selection and variability, the genome must have a structure in which the occurrence of beneficial mutations has a high enough probability. But how is this ensured? The space of ...
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Difference in length of Okazaki fragments
The length of Okazaki fragments in the lagging strand is about 100-200 nucleotides in eukaryotes and about 1000-2000 nucleotides in prokaryotes.
What (molecular mechanism, enzyme type ) determines ...
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Is there any way to identify if chromosomes are inherited from the same parent?
I'm a PhD student in bioinformatics working on genomic data, and I was wondering:
If I have access to a person's chromosomes, is there an assay that can determine that two chromosomes come from the ...
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What would an organism be like if its entire genome "worked"? [closed]
It is known that a large fraction of the genome of almost any organism "does not work", that is, it does not encode any proteins and does not participate in gene expression, in protein ...
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Has life on Earth explored the entire space of genomes?
Recently I came across a 2008 article, the authors of which argue that in fact the space of protein sequences is not as large as it might seem, and that life on Earth has most likely already explored ...
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What is targeted gene disruption?
I am a bit confused about what targeted gene disruption means. I was reading this article in which they compare the Pyrococcus Furiosus genome with a genetically tractable strain P. Furiosus variant ...
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How much genes can be knocked down at the same time
When experimenting on mice, gene knockdown seems to be a useful technique to deactivate individual genes to study what they are doing. In practice what's the maximum of genes that can be knocked out ...
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What is prochromosome?
My textbook says that prochromosome is a false chromosome present in the nucleoid of prokaryotes.
I looked up Wikipedia and all over internet and this word is kinda sus. So I'm asking about it here. ...
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Where to find gene manipulation video (or photos)
I hope Im not asking a dumb question!
Where can i find video of gene manipulation in action under microscope?
Like extracting a gene from a cell, fixing gene mutations, putting the gene in a vector, ...
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Cell location co-ordinates [closed]
I have just had the nails on both my big toes removed. I am much happier. But it got me to thinking, as there is no 'root structure' from which the nail grows, is there an x,y,z, type co-ordinate ...
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Why do more complex DNA strands take longer to anneal?
My textbook and several websites told me that more complex DNA strands take longer to anneal because it is harder to find the correct sequence. A simpler, repeating sequence like ATATATATA would be ...
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Can a strand not be synthesised in 5' -> 3' direction?
I've been solving some biology questions, and according to one of them ( I have the responses too) the following phrase is false:
"Both strands are always synthesised in the 5' to 3' direction.&...
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Which method of gene amplification for toehold switches?
My team and I are from a high school and are planning to carry out some research investigating some toehold switch riboregulators which we have designed in silico. However, we have little experience ...
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Does Remdesivir cause bone marrow suppression?
According to Wikipedia, Remdesivir is a prodrug of GS-441524 which is a nucleoside analog.
I know that nucleotides are the building blocks of both DNA and RNA, meaning nucleotide analogues that ...
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What can be used for DNA preservation?
I am neither a student nor really advanced in biology, I am just writing a tabletop role-playing game scenario that I want as realistic as possible. In the story, the players find an old laboratory ...
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Genomic library preparation: Why does the restriction enzyme not cut into the gene?
I am currently trying to understand creating a genomic library more profoundly. In most textbooks I read (as well as wikipedia), they mentioned that the genomic library is created by isolating the DNA ...
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Virus variant transmissibility: empirical data or spike protein shape?
Well first I am not in the field of Biology or Medical Sciences. Since these days we are waiting scientists to tell us if the Indian variant of SARS Cov 2 is more transmissible than the original virus,...
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What does does a blood sample tell you about an individual's identity?
I am working on a fiction/mystery scene where blood is found in a particular character's residence but the character themselves is missing. I would like to understand whether the law enforcement/...
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Why are nitrogenous bases of DNA hydrophobic if they can hydrogen bond?
Why are nitrogenous bases of DNA hydrophobic if they can hydrogen bond?
Is it that they are only relatively hydrophobic?
This forum explains it but does not give an example of the structure.
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Direction of translation/transcription
Perhaps it would not be wrong to say that "translation/transcription goes in the direction of 3' to 5'" or "in the direction of 5' to 3'";that's because these statements are ...
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How do you determine "in which direction" DNA is shared between groups of people
In popular DNA ancestry tests you can read lines like "you have 2% neanderthal dna" or "you have 20% italian". How can you distinguish between a person having 20% italian vs ...
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Traceability of a mature tree to its original seed via DNA
Is it possible to trace a specific seed to a fully mature tree? For example, Can a seed be traced to the full-grown plant based on DNA? Would it be possible for me to catalog a seed DNA and then ...
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How was gene knock out done in pre CRISPR era?
I am trying to understand how CRISPR has made the gene knockout or gene editing process simpler to make transgenic animals. Here is an old (pre CRISPR) flowchart from Manis, 2007 that shows how ...
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By selecting sex cells after meiosis, would it be possible to create two offspring with inverse parental DNA of one another? [closed]
Would it theoretically be possible to select two sex cells after a male meiosis (filtering out the two where crossover had taken place) and combine each with two sex from a female meiosis (imagining ...
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Forward or Reverse Strand: Is there a difference when encoding genetic devices?
Background:
In synthetic biology, and also in nature, there are lots of examples of genes in both the forward and reverse orientation. It seems in synthetic biology/bioengineering, most genetic ...
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Why is DNA replication not 100% accurate
I've been reading about DNA mismatch repair (MMR) and how this process improves DNA fidelity. However, I was wondering, what is stopping MMR from correcting all mistakes in the daughter DNA with 100% ...
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Geometric Interpretations of the DNA Double Helix
In mathematics, a helix is a shape which has constant curvature and constant torque (see Wikipedia here. What are the biological implications of the DNA double helix having constant curvature and ...
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What if target DNA doesn’t have restriction sites
All the examples on DNA cloning I have encountered have assumed that the target gene and vector both have compatible restriction sites at just the right locations (probably for ease of explanation). ...
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How much of the Neanderthal genome is living on in humans?
I've understand that outside of African, most ethnic groups carry some (4% or less) Neanderthal DNA. So en masse, across all living humans, what percentage of the original Neanderthal genome is still ...
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Assembling small DNA parts using Golden Gate
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I've always been told that DNA assembly can be tricky when using very small DNA parts due to low efficiency. I've also seen this when using 3A biobrick assembly to assemble promoters and ...
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Can a blood type O be born from AB and A parents?
I have a basic understanding of genetics, and I'm really puzzled by this. My grandma's blood type is A (I don't know if it's heterozygous or homozygous) and my grandpa is AB. Yet my mother is type O.
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Nomenclature of substrates for DNA synthesis
I have read in my school textbooks that both deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate and deoxynucleotide triphosphate are used in DNA Replication as substrates.
However, it is unclear to me whether the terms ...
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Are there any species whose descendants can meet their ancestors from 100 generations back?
I.e. Humans can sometimes meet even their great-great-grandparents, but are there any species that can be alive at the same time as their great-great-……-great-grandparents? I imagine it would be those ...
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What can you learn about someone's mother and father by examining their DNA?
Disclaimer: I ask this question from the position of having paid absolutely no attention throughout school/highschool science classes. I am incredibly ignorant, but I don't know how to find the answer ...
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DNA mutations in humans are generally bad, but why to they make viruses stronger?
When I read about DNA mutations in humans, the mutations are generally bad.
When I read about mutations in viruses such as the recent emerging strains of COVID-19, however, it seems to be good for the ...
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"Immortal Genes" common to all organisms?
Author Sean B. Carroll mentions that there are about 500 genes common to all organisms. They have to do with the essential DNA machinery and so forth.
What are these genes? Where can I read more about ...
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How do gene locations change during crossing over events?
Suppose you have two variants from the same species, which have slightly different chromosomes I's to each other. Genes may be in slightly different positions on the chromosome, and the lengths of the ...
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Are there any DNA viruses with junk DNA in them?
I know mimiviruses and pandoraviruses have orphan DNA - DNA that is not found in other species - but this is DNA that codes for proteins. I am not able to find out if they contain junk DNA. By junk I ...
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Are there ribozymes that cut double strands
the header already says:
Are there any ribozymes known that cut double strands?
A kind of ribozyme equivalent to the Ribonuclease III.
With cut, I mean that the backbone of both strands, forming the ...
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Parameters that determines the thermal stability of DNA
Why a DNA with a high GC content more stable than one with a less GC content? Is it because of the three hydrogen bonds in GC base pair which is one more than a AT base pair or is it because of the ...
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If aging is caused by "DNA Damage" why is the process of aging generally similar between people?
When I hear the phrase "DNA Damage" I imagine completely random changes in the DNA of a person's cells. If this is the case, then it seems like every person would age differently depending ...
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