The allosteric site of an enzyme is regulatory in function. Enzymes with allosteric or regulatory sites behave as the “Allosteric enzymes”. Such enzymes possess multiple binding sites for both substrates and effectors. Allosteric enzymes are regulated by the non-covalent or reversible binding of effectors or non-substrate molecules to the allosteric site. Thus, the allosteric site …
Bacterial transcription occurs in the cytoplasm. Transcription merely refers to the mechanism of mRNA synthesis complementary to the DNA template strand. The whole process is regulated enzymatically by the RNA polymerase holoenzyme. The study of transcription in prokaryotes is quite simple than the eukaryotic transcription. Besides RNA polymerase, prokaryotic transcription uses some protein factors that …
The difference between anabolism and catabolism is mainly characterized due to the difference in the types of substrates participating, types of products forming and the type of metabolic phase. Small monomers function as the substrate molecules in anabolism, whereas large and complex polymers serve as the substrate molecules in catabolism. Anabolic pathways typically form complex …
Lipid aggregates exist in varying forms starting from monolayer to structures like lamellar, tubular, cubic etc. The different structures or aggregates of lipids are known as phases. Largely, lipids are hydrophobic or water-insoluble. Lipids assemble into microscopic aggregates in the aqueous environment because of their amphipathic nature. They possess both hydrophilic (a polar head) and …
Fed-batch culture is a modified batch culture method or an intermediate of batch and continuous fermentation techniques. Like batch culture, products of the fed-batch culture are harvested in batches, i.e. after the batch time. However, the substrate is added periodically throughout the cultivation, like the continuous fermentation method. Although, the amount of substrate required to …
Alternaria fungi constitute a major group of plant pathogens. They belong to the phylum Deuteromycetes or Fungi imperfecti due to the lack of sexual stage in their life cycle. Thus, Alternaria species only reproduce asexually by conidiospores, and the process is called an anamorph state. The genus Alternaria has nearly 299 species. They are ubiquitous. …
A pure culture is derived from the solid nutrient medium containing a mixed microbial population. In simple words, pure culture refers to the isolation and culturing of the isolated colony from the mixed microbial population. Isolation of a single colony or pure culturing is necessary to study the morphology and physiology of the microbial colony …
Chemical mutagens refer to the chemical agents that impose severe genetic abnormalities by directly or indirectly interacting with the DNA. DNA damage and alternations in nucleotide sequence prevalently result, after the treatment of nucleobases with base analogues and base altering agents. In addition, some chemical mutagens like intercalating agents may distort the DNA structure. Base …
A laminar airflow chamber refers to an enclosed cabinet, which is equipped with a HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filtered airflow system. It provides an aseptic environment to perform different experiments. Laminar airflow cabinet circulates unidirectional airflow with little or no turbulence at a uniform velocity between 0.3-0.5 m/s. It is extensively used in laboratories to …
Rho protein or Rho factor is a hexamer complex, which is ATP-dependent. Rho gene synthesizes rho protein to terminate the transcription process in prokaryotes. It is a protein possessing a single polypeptide chain with 419 amino acid residues. It functions as an RNA-binding protein, which primarily recognizes and binds to the rut site of the …