Questions tagged [molecular-biology]
The study of the molecular processes underlying life.
1,391
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Which animals don't have pheromones?
Which animals are known to not have pheromones besides humans?
I can't find any research on this. There are examples of every class that uses pheromones. However nobody seems to answer conclusively ...
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1answer
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Difference Junk DNA and Pseudogenes
1-Are Pseudogenes and Junk DNA both Non-Coding DNA or they are different entity? How much Pseudogenes & Junk DNA do we have respectively?
2-I read that Non-Coding DNA has functions, my question ...
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DNA sequencing CCR5-Δ32 [closed]
DNA sequencing is a viable method of mutation detection. Describe what you would expect to see in a sequence trace for each of the following scenarios. Your answer to each should refer to the sequence ...
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Holder for 75 mm x 25 mm glass slides that can handle vibration
Hello Biology Stack Exchange,
I have an application where I have cells on a glass slide (dimensions: standard 75 mm length x 25 mm width x 1 mm thick). I want to vibrate/shake the cells rapidly ...
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1answer
76 views
Does this article call into question the theory of evolution?
https://www.quantamagazine.org/neutral-theory-of-evolution-challenged-by-evidence-for-dna-selection-20181108/
The article above challenges how mutations work in evolution. Does this disprove the ...
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7 views
Why do people use J2 viruses for macrophage immortalization?
I've been trying to figure out how to go about immortalizing some primary alveolar macrophages harvested from mice. What I am seeing in the literature is that it seems like people have been using a ...
0
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1answer
25 views
How to do desalt reaction by passage through a Micro Bio-spin 6 column?
I want to perform the bisulfite sequencing on rRNA to detect the 5-mC. I followed this protocol
• DNA-free™ DNA Removal Kit (Invitrogen)
• Purified RNA, Treat RNA according to manufacturer's ...
0
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1answer
24 views
Does anyone know a good pancreatic-cancer metastasis cell line?
Researching about pancreatic cancer. We have mostly "main-tumor" cell lines in our lab, and I´m currently looking for cell lines originating from metastases (liver, lung, etc.).
Does anyone know a ...
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2answers
58 views
What is the subcellular location of synthesis of non-essential amino-acids?
What is location of non-essential amino acids synthesis in a cell? Is it some specific organelle? And what is the gene driver behind this?
I thought the whole point of DNA is coding for how to ...
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0answers
17 views
Biochemistry of pleasure of/desire for physical exercise in mammalians and humans?
Are there some known biochemical mechanisms, that induces desire for/pleasure of physical exercise in mammalians and humans? I have heard, that horses can not live without physical exercise and they ...
3
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1answer
32 views
What buffer should I choose for IEX chromatography for purifying IgY
I will use ion exchange chromatography with an anion exchange column to purify chicken IgY. Prior to this I did dialysis to remove salts from previous purification steps, is it possible after this ...
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0answers
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Chemical inhibition of fertilization in plants
Are there any chemical compounds that inhibit fertilization in plants after gametogenesis? Simply put, I am talking about spermicide or emergency contraception for plants.
Specifically, I am ...
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0answers
36 views
ATP and Muscle Contraction
I have a question regarding how molecular interactions manifest in physical actions - such as hanging from a bar. To the best of my understanding, when it comes to the contraction of muscles, ATP is ...
0
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1answer
27 views
Can I use a basic compound microscope to analyze the ploidy of plant chromosomes?
So, I'm not really any kind of trained botanist. But I do have two things: some dandelion seeds from France, and, collecting dust in my garage along with related accessories, this thing.
Normally, ...
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0answers
18 views
Buffer Components affect DNA methylation patterns?
I am using this buffer to preserve blood cells for long term storage.
The buffer contains the following:
100 mM Tris, 100 mM EDTA, 10 mM NaCl, and 0.5% SDS.
From the literature it seems that EDTA ...
0
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0answers
18 views
How to troubleshoot in vitro formaldehyde fixation for nucleosomes?
For an experiment, I am trying to fix the mononucleosomes (100ng) using formaldehyde as crosslinking agent in HEPES buffer. I have been using 2% formaldehyde in a reaction buffer containing 1mM EDTA, ...
1
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0answers
24 views
How do receptors lose their sensitivity?
Recently, I learned that one of the causes of Type II diabetes is that insulin receptors on cell surfaces lose their sensitivity due to long-term high exposure to insulin (which occurs as a result of ...
1
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1answer
42 views
Application of molecular dynamics simulation (or alternatives) for the full pathways of protein interactions?
If one would like to control the biological system (e.g. to treat disease or aging/senescence) then one should introduce the drugs in the system, that initiate complex protein interaction pathways ...
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What is the relationship between Ca- and Na-ions and mucins and why?
According to Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucin#Secretion
mucins (Proteins that form mucus) obtain viscoelastic properties by the Exchange of sodium and Calcium Ions. What is Happening ...
0
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1answer
28 views
Can Cas13 be used with multiple crRNAs in the same reaction?
CRISPR-Cas13 equipped with crRNA (complementary to transcripts of interest) can be designed to target ssRNA transcripts in cells.
Upon successful crRNA and ssRNA binding, a fluorescent domain on ...
0
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0answers
9 views
How are multiples transmembrane proteins translocated or embedded in the membrane?
This image is in the textbook, Molecular Biology of the Cell. I understand why the start and stop transfer sequences must alternate, but why is there 2 consecutive start transfer sequences at the N ...
0
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0answers
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What is the typical concentration of Calcineurin (PP2B) in CA1 dendritic spines?
I am trying to find the concentration of CaN (PP2B) in dendritic spines, there is a computational model (doi:10.1073/pnas.0804672105) that uses the quantity of 1uM in the dendritic spine. I think this ...
2
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1answer
34 views
What is the difference between DNA vs RNA Editing in the context of gene therapy?
As a someone with beginner knowledge on biology, I have come across the terms "RNA editing".
Take this paper for example : RNA Editing with CRISPR-Cas13
From my understanding, DNA -> RNA -> Proteins
...
0
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1answer
35 views
Why do NK cells not destroy bacteria, even though bacteria don't have MHC-I?
Part of the function of NK cells is to destroy cells that are unable to bind their KIR receptors. Or in other words, cells that don't express MHC class I. This is why they can kill MHC supressed ...
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0answers
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Can a lentivirus expressed protein that is undetectable by western blot be detected by BioID?
Cloned a single herpesviral gene into pCDH-EF!-GFP and see phenotypic effect on cells of interest and viral gene transcripts BUT unable to detect ANY protein using HRP boosted western blot. Even with ...
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Need help in identifying and understanding the origin of an expression variant
We usually denote the origin of a mutation as either somatic or germline. This information is usually available in certain databases such as CIVIC, ClinVar, COSMIC etc. But when we come to variants ...
0
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1answer
43 views
Dna based question [duplicate]
We know that dna is an acid which is elaborated by deoxyribo nucleic acid.It has 4 nucleo bases.Now,the question arises, why dna has no uracil base?
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How to map the N6-dimethyladenosine by primer extension?
I am trying to map N6-dimethyladenosine on rRNA using primer extension (low dNTPs assay) method. But i am not able to detect map my position. I went through some articles they mentioned like they ...
0
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0answers
22 views
Insight on HPV vaccine to prevent/control reactivation of latent infections in those already infected
Some women experience reactivation of HPV infection in their 50's due to weakened immune system and weakened immune memory. Is it outside the realm of possibility that giving the HPV vaccine to those ...
1
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0answers
48 views
Protein misfolding [closed]
Protein misfolding is usually prevented by molecular chaperons. Rarely, the chaperons are not able to prevent the misfolding as a result of which the infectous molecules called prions will form.
My ...
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0answers
25 views
Could Wobble Base Pairing ultimately yield an amino acid that was originally uncalled for or not expected?
How does the cell choose which amino acid to attach to tRNA when there is wobble base pairing involved (not the other way around)? Consider the example below.
For the purpose of this question I'm ...
0
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0answers
23 views
In HIV-1, what produces Tat?
The Trans-activator of transcription (Tat) plays a crucial role in regulating the transcription process of HIV-1. But which state of the Long Terminal Repeat (LTR) produces Tat? Is it the "...
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0answers
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Do molecular motors have a life time?
Most of the enzymes have a certain lifetime. I want to know that do molecular motors have a certain lifetime after which they degenerate? Any reference will be appreciated.
Basically, I just want to ...
3
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2answers
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Does the lack of “mirror life” tell us anything about abiogenesis?
My (extremely rudimentary) understanding of Biology is that many of the building blocks of life are chiral and that life on earth is entirely made up molecules with the same chirality.
Does this ...
2
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1answer
65 views
Why magnesium ion is needed for activity of G-proteins?
I was studying about G-protein coupled signaling sysytem, somewhere they have mentioned about need of Mg$^{2+}$ for acticty of G-protein and related it to increase of cyclic AMP production. On further ...
0
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0answers
57 views
What is the difference among biochemistry, molecular biology, molecular genetics and structural biology?
I have never heard of straigthforward definitions of these fields in my college lectures, and the Internet searches were not very helpful. However, from what I have learned at different subjects, this ...
3
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1answer
53 views
Immunoprecipitation compared to western blotting
Immunoprecipitation and western blotting are both used to locate a specific protein within a sample and to isolate it. In immunoprecipitation, a specific antibody and agarose beads ( or other ...
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0answers
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Endocytic pathway: Macropinocytosis
So I'm trying to understand this phrase:
Unlike other endocytic pathways, macropinocytosis is acutely induced by growth factors
From the following paper
The 4 endocytic pathways I know of are ...
7
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2answers
2k views
Is NMDA produced in the body?
On the wiki page for NMDA it says that NMDA is a synthetic substance that mimics glutamate. So why does the body not use glutamate instead of NMDA?
Also how is it possible that our body can produce ...
3
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1answer
70 views
Emergence of novel protein interactions by mutation of amino acids
Are there any examples of proteins that, without coming from a recent duplication event, underwent a mutation(s) that caused it to have a novel interaction with a new ligand, substrate, other protein ...
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0answers
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Does the molecular composition of human body change after a period of time?
I was discussing change in human biology over time and my two in-laws charged in saying, "we're molecularly different after x". I didn't pay attention to what time period they exactly mentioned (hence ...
1
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1answer
41 views
When are neuropeptides loaded into vesicles?
It is well known that small neurotransmitters like monoamines (dopamine, serotonin, etc), acetylcholine, glutamate, etc are loaded into vesicles at the axon terminal. Stated differently, synaptic ...
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0answers
26 views
Techniques of molecular medicine/biology for aesthetic medicine?
Are there scientifically valid methods (possibly in the developmental stage) that can be used for aesthetic medicine. Usually surgical of physical therapies are used for aesthetic medicine, but ...
3
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0answers
26 views
What phosphorylates tau protein & and what causes tau to be phosphorylated?
I want to know what phosphorylates tau protein and its 6 isoforms.
I know kinases cause phosphorylation events, and in tau it can be phosphorylated in a healthy neuron in the trans conformation, but ...
0
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1answer
25 views
Human Stem Cells and Disease
Can human stem cells be stored for use by future family members as a way to combat generational diseases like diabetes
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28 views
Intein Splicing
Currently I am trying to read and understand this paper on intein splicing.
https://sci-hub.tw/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22001202
However, I'm a little confused with Figure 4.
Why do the ...
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0answers
18 views
RNAi termination
Can you stop an ongoing RNAi after transfection with a vector containing siRNA?
I want to experiment on gene function loss effect, using RNAi, and gene function gain, using stopping the RNAi.
0
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1answer
52 views
Is it possible to stop more/extra fat from being stored in the body?
I don't mean simply by restricting eating or upping the activities, but a way to basically stop the body from adding more fat on itself down on the bio level. For example, I'm not too knowledgeable on ...
6
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1answer
206 views
Why did they expect Astronaut Scott Kelley's telomere shortening to accelerate? (they got longer!)
The NPR News article and podcast Scientists Share Results From NASA's Twins Study says:
SCOTT KELLY (NASA Astronaut): You know, the symptomatic stuff is fine. I don't have any long-term negative ...
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2answers
176 views
What is a “pan-specific” antibody?
I am new to biology. I searched a lot to find an article that explains what "pan-specific" antibody is but I could not find anything substantial that would help me understand what it is.
An example ...
