Exploration of Molecular Biology

Gene transfer is something that has come to mind after I read about the discovery of RNAi which involved adding RNA to a plant to create more purple color in flowers. So I wondered what are the methods that we use to bring forth genes or traits that would not be there. The first thing that comes to my mind is something I have used in a lab before which is the GFP (green fluorescent protein) protein which can be placed into bacteria cells. This protein is from a jellyfish and was isolated for use. This can be used when adding plasma which adds the gene to a bacteria cell through horizontal gene transfer. This will allow detection that the gene has been transferred into the bacteria which did not have the ability to glow before.  Bacteria have mechanisms which involve transformation, transduction, and conjugation. What I want to know is how we get these genes into eukaryotes. My search began with plants and I found that some mechanisms mentioned in a reading are organelle tr...

I almost forgot that  RNAi is something involved in our systems when I was finding information about RNA last week. I found about its discovery and also I realized people have been researching it for gene therapy. As you know RNA is usually a single-stranded polymer of nucleotides that is similar to the structure of DNA but has a uracil instead of a thymine in most cases. We have connected these to making proteins but there are ways that these can be altered to make miRNA (microRNA) and siRNA (small interfering RNA), which both have functions in the body for the interference of RNAs.  Many people view these and see a possible way to end cancer. Cancer continuously wants to divide so a way to stop this process would be a large hit to the disease, what is a problem is the stability of RNA. RNA is not as stable as DNA and can be damaged before it is used. A co-delivery system is being considered in an article by Larsson where the RNA and drug that could assist can work tog...

After reading blogs talking about dogma put up, and us speaking about enzymes in class, I thought I would look into more what RNA enzymes mean for life or molecular biology. Starting from the top we know that Dogma starts with DNA and makes RNA which makes protein, which function as enzymes and much more. According to writing by Schot we found RNA only in the 1980s and did not know about their enzyme activity until 1994. Knowing this information has led some to consider an RNA World Hypothesis which many of us have heard about. A theory which states that old life may have used RNA as genetic data. This being said perhaps before they were used to make proteins they could have performed some simple functions themselves. RNA or more specifically ribozymes are able to cut themselves and go through their own folding. It defiantly has some folding options to be able to position itself for activity. When I think of RNA I consider three things one is the ability to make proteins, anot...

To begin this semester of posts, I think looking into how microbiology has grown from its start to where it is today will allow me to develop a vision for future concepts and interests. Who I consider as one of the major beginners of microbiology is Anton Van Leeuwenhoek, who was one of the first to have descriptions of many microscopic organisms. But how they functioned with everything around us was not studied until much later. Louis Pasteur might be the one who disproved spontaneous generation and found that microorganisms could be the reason for disease. This may also have sparked the new interest in this field of study. One of the next major breakthroughs came from Robert and his postulates. He made even more certain the connection between microorganisms and disease. Since then we have done much to improve what we know about microbiology. We have found different disease causing agents, bacteria, viruses, and made treatments such as antibiotics that can stop the spread of di...