In animals, plants and other eukaryotic organisms, typically one protein is translated from each mRNA. Usually, translation can start only at one end of the mRNA strand. In contrast, several viruses ...
Learn More

Humans are diploid organisms whose (non-sex) cells contain two copies of each chromosome – one from each parent. Each of these two copies may be distinguished by genetic variations such as insertion...
Learn More

Isolating analytes from complex biological samples is one of the most crucial steps in many areas of biological research and clinical diagnostics. Paramagnetic particles (PMPs) or beads are important ...
Learn More

The ability to chemically synthesize single-stranded oligonucleotides has had a profound impact on research and medicine. Yet existing strategies have their limitations. One critical limitation is the...
Learn More

Transfection is the process of introducing nucleic acids into cells. Two main strategies are viral (utilizing viruses as vectors) and non-viral. Non-viral methods are less efficient but attractive for...
Learn More

DNA synthesis is evolving from chip-based synthesis to a method where oligomers are synthesized and subsequently harvested so this genetic material can be used in a construction kit-type system. This ...
Learn More

Enzymes of the glutathione S-transferase (GST) family are present in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. As much as 10 percent of the cytosolic protein in some mammalian organs can consist of GSTs.
Learn More

Restriction enzymes are used widely to cleave double-stranded DNA. However, a given restriction enzyme can only cleave a DNA molecule at the specific nucleotide sequence that corresponds to the recogn...
Learn More

Effective isolation of nucleic acids from biological samples is an essential prerequisite for efficient downstream amplification, detection and quantification of specific genetic sequences via quantit...
Learn More

Molecule-molecule interactions, including interactions between proteins, nucleic acids and other small molecules, are important in a variety of cellular events. A number of physical, molecular biologi...
Learn More

Now that complete sequence information is available for many organisms, researchers are focusing on the analysis of single genomic DNA molecules. A key issue in this analysis is how to unravel and mar...
Learn More

Microbial genome sequencing projects uncover large numbers of new genes. Functional analyses of these genes require targeted modifications of particular DNA sequences in their chromosomal locations us...
Learn More

Because they retain large DNA inserts over many generations, bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) are popular vectors for genetic and expression analyses of genomic DNA libraries; however, their us...
Learn More

Promoters are genetic regulatory elements that drive gene expression in cells under certain conditions. One way to identify promoters is to use a promoter-trap vector, which is a plasmid containing a ...
Learn More

The low mobility of bacterial transposons, such as Tn5, makes it difficult for researchers to detail the molecular transposition process and to exploit transposition for uses such as the development o...
Learn More

Cationic lipid-mediated delivery of nucleic acids and proteins may replace virus-mediated transfection of exogenous DNA for many applications. However, current lipid-based carriers provide limited con...
Learn More

The normal growth and development of tissue requires a complex interplay of multiple signals from multiple genes in well-defined locations, leading to the controlled differentiation of precursor cells...
Learn More

RNA polymerase, the enzyme responsible for making RNA from a DNA or RNA template, is one of the most important proteins in all life forms.
Learn More