Microbiology

Clostridium botulinum

Clostridium botulinum is a clinically significant bacteria, which causes a sporadic but severe disease called “Botulism”. It produces a particular type of exotoxin that affects the nervous system by inhibiting the neuromuscular junction’s activity. Therefore, the botulinum toxin behaves as a neurotoxin, which blocks the release of a neurotransmitter (acetylcholine). Acetylcholine is a chemical compound …

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Botulism Disease

Botulism disease is caused by a bacterial agent, Clostridium botulinum, that produces an exotoxin. Clostridium botulinum causes bacterial food poisoning or intoxication as it releases exotoxin. Exotoxin acts as a neurotoxin, which disables the normal functioning of the nervous system. Thus, an exotoxin produced by Clostridium botulinum is called botulinum neurotoxin, which blocks the synthesis of the …

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Acid Fast Staining

Acid-fast staining was originally pioneered by a scientist named Paul Ehrlich in the year 1882. Later, it was modified by Ziehl and Neelson in 1883. Thus, acid-fast staining is also called Ziehl Neelson staining. It is a type of differential staining method used to distinguish between acid-fast and non-acid-fast bacteria. Mycobacterium is an acid-fast bacterium …

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Excision Repair

Excision repair is one of the types of DNA repair systems. It is an enzymatic process, which follows a cut, copy and paste mechanism. A cutting mechanism involves removing a damaged part or unusual bases by specific enzymes like glycosylases and helicases. Then, a copying mechanism uses DNA polymerase. DNAP-I uses the template DNA to …

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Adenovirus

Adenovirus is a type of DNA virus, which appears medium-sized, non-enveloped and double-stranded. Adenovirus named after its isolation from the human adenoid tissue. It was first introduced by a scientist named Rowe, who cultured and isolated adenovirus via plasma tissue culturing. This group of virus can infect human, animals and birds. Adenovirus can cause various …

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