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Also known as rennin. It is an enzyme used to make cheeses (from milk). Chymosin occurs naturally in the stomachs of calves, and is one of the oldest commercially used enzymes. Chymosin (rennin) is chemically similar to renin, an enzyme that plays an important role in regulating blood pressure in humans. An enzyme that curdles…

A process by which complex mixtures of different molecules may be separated from each other. This is accomplished by subjecting the mixture to many repeated partitionings between a flowing phase and a stationary phase. Chromatography constitutes one of, if not the most fundamental separation techniques used in the biochemistry/biotechnology arena to date. A method of…

Copies of a chromosome produced by replication within a living eucaryotic cell during the prophase (i.e., the first stage of mitosis). They are compact cylinders consisting of DNA coiled around flexible rods of histone protein. The parallel threads resulting from chromosome duplication before they separate from each other. One of two parallel filaments making up…

An enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown of cholesterol molecules (causing oxygen consumption in the breakdown process). Because cholesterol molecules are essential for creation and maintenance of cell membranes and some hormones, an excess of cholesterol oxidase can be harmful. When the gene (that codes) for cholesterol oxidase is inserted into the genome of the com…

Specialized chlorophyll-containing photosynthetic organelles in eucaryotic cells.  

A transit peptide that, when fused to a protein, acts to transport that protein into chloroplast(s) in a plant. Once (both are) inside the chloroplast, the transit peptide is cleaved off the protein and that protein is then free (to do the task it was designed for). For example, the CP4 EPSPS enzyme in genetically…

An enzyme that degrades chitin. It is produced by certain fungi and actinomycetes that destroy the eggs (shells) of harmful roundworms.  

A chemical compound that contains an asymmetrical center and is capable of occurring in two nonsuperimposable mirror images. This phenomenon was first described by Louis Pasteur. “Chiral” is a word that is derived from the Greek cheir (meaning “hand”). For example, human hands may be used to illustrate chirality in that when the left and…

Fused proteins from different species, produced from the chimeric DNA template.  

Recombinant DNA containing spliced genes from two different species.