Elzu's micro notes

 TrEMBL - Translated EMBL Translated EMBL was created in 1996 as a computer annotated supplement to Swiss-Prot. It contains translations of all coding sequences in the EMBL nucleotide sequence database. The sequence data are mainly derived from TrEMBL, a database of translated nucleic acid sequences stored in the EMBL database. The annotation of each entry is carefully curated by human experts and thus is of good quality. The protein annotation includes function, domain structure, catalytic sites, cofactor binding, posttranslational modification, metabolic pathway information, disease association, and similarity with other sequences. Much of this information is obtained from scientific literature and entered by database curators. The annotation provides significant added value to each original sequence record. The data record also provides cross referencing links to other online resources of interest. Other features such as very low redundancy and high level of integration wit...

 Biological databases A database is a computerized archive used to store and organize data in such a way that information can be retrieved easily via a variety of search criteria. Databases are composed of computer hardware and software for data management. The chief objective of the development of a database is to organize data in a set of structured records to enable easy retrieval of information. Each record, also called an entry, should contain a number of fields that hold the actual data items, for example, fields for names, phone numbers, addresses, dates. To retrieve a particular record from the database, a user can specify a particular piece of information, called value , to be found in a particular field and expect the computer to retrieve the whole data record. This process is called making a query. Biological databases are  libraries of biological sciences, collected from scientific experiments, published literature, high-throughput experiment technology, and compu...

  Biodiversity hotspots in India Biodiversity is referred to as the variation of plant and animal species in a particular habitat. Species evenness and species richness form the major components of biodiversity. India is known for its rich biodiversity and has around 24.46% of the geographical area covered by forests and trees. The term “Biodiversity hotspots” was coined by  Norman Myers . It can be defined as the regions which are known for their high species richness and endemism. According to International Conservation , a region must fulfill the following two criteria to qualify as a hotspot: The region should have at least 1500 species of vascular plants i.e., it should have a high degree of endemism. It must contain 30% (or less) of its original habitat, i.e. it must be threatened. Following the criteria must for an area to be declared as Biodiversity Hotspot, there are major four out of 36 biodiversity hotspots of the world located in India...

  LYMPHOCYTE TRAFFIC The lymphatic and circulatory systems are intimately related, and there is a constant movement of lymphocytes throughout the body, moving from one system to another. Different subsets of lymphocytes migrate differentially into different tissues. This process is called trafficking, or homing . Afferent lymphatic vessels mediate the transport of antigen and leukocytes from interstitial spaces drain into lymph nodes, which “filter” these fluids, removing foreign substances. Afferent lymphatics are blind-ended vessels that permeate the tissues and selectively convey lymphocytes and antigen-presenting accessory cells into the subcapsular and medullary sinuses of lymph nodes.  Meanwhile , Efferent vessels carry the clean fluid away and back to the bloodstream where it helps form plasma. Efferent lymphatics (usually only one or two for each node) carry lymphocytes and lymph plasma out of lymph nodes ultimately into the major efferent ducts and then back t...

  Toll-like receptors (TLRs)   Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are a class of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that initiate the innate immune response by sensing conserved molecular patterns for early immune recognition of a pathogen .TLRs are type I transmembrane proteins that contain three structural domains: a leucine-rich repeats (LRRs) motif, a transmembrane domain, and a cytoplasmic Toll/IL-1 receptor (TIR) domain. The LRRs motif is responsible for pathogen recognition, whereas the TIR domain interacts with signal transduction adaptors and initiates signaling. Toll-like receptors were first found in Drosophila melanogaster   . 10 TLRs have been identified in human (TLR1–TLR10) and 13 in mouse (TLR1–TLR13).   Many of the molecules involved in innate immunity have the property of pattern recognition, the ability to recognize a given class of molecules. There are certain types of molecules that are unique to microbes and never found in multicellu...

Molecular  Chaperones are diverse group of protein molecules that  control conformational changes in native protein to make it as biologically functional protein . Main role of molecular  chaperones  Prevent protein degradation Protein folding assistance Prevent aggregation of proteins Prevent prion formation Assistance of translocation of other molecules Types of Chaperones 1.HSP(Heat shock proteins) Proteins which help to assist stressful conditions (elevated temperature, toxic chemical, radiation)in cell. Eg: Eukaryotes                                         Prokaryotes: HSP-10                                                               GroES HSP-40              ...

Aim To prepare antibiotic discs economically and to determine   the resistance pattern of   antibiotics against common pathogens. Principle Antibiotics are   defined as   antimicrobial substances which inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria. It is widely used in treatment of many diseases. Penicillin was the first antibiotic, discovered by Alexander Fleming in1928. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing can be studied   by different methods such as disk diffusion method, dilution method, E test   method. The  disk -diffusion agar methods assess the effectiveness of  antibiotics  on a specific microorganism. Each disc is a standard size and is impregnated with a standard volume and concentration of the antibiotic. Impregnated   disc with a known concentration of an antimicrobial compound is placed on Mueller-Hinton (MH) agar which is swabbed with test organism .After incubation, t he absence of growth around the antibiotic disks in...