Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Two nucleotides that are in different nucleic acid chains and whose bases pair (interact) by hydrogen bonding. In DNA, the nucleotide bases are adenine (which pairs with thymine) and guanine (which pairs with cytosine). A partnership of adenosine with thymidine or cytosine with guanine in a double helix. In the double-stranded helical arrangement of DNA,…

A method that can be utilized to detect a “point mutation” in DNA (via rapid DNA sequence scanning).  

Vectors (used by researchers to carry new genes into cells) in which the agent is a baculovirus (i.e., a virus that infects certain types of insects only). These could conceivably be use to make a genetically engineered “insecticide” that is specific to a targeted insect (i.e., wouldn’t harm anything but that insect). For example, a…

A virus that infects lepidopteran insects (e.g., cotton bollworm or gypsy moth larva). Baculoviruses can be modified via genetic engineering to insert new genes into the larva, causing those larva to then produce proteins desired by man (e.g., pharmaceuticals). A double-stranded DNA virus that infects insects. It has been used experimentally in recombinant DNA technology,…

The science and study of bacteria, a specialized branch of microbiology. The bacteria constitute a useful and essential group in the biological community. Although some bacteria prey on higher forms of life, relatively few are pathogens (disease-causing organisms). Life on earth depends on the activity of bacteria to mineralize organic compounds and to capture the…

Reverse the effect of a mutation that had inactivated a gene; thus it restores wild phenotype.  

Discovered by bacteriologist Ishiwata Shigetane on a diseased silkworm in 1901. Later discovered on a dead Mediterranean flour moth, and first named Bacillus thuringiensis, by Ernst Berliner in 1915. Today, Bacillus thuringiensis refers to a group of rod-shaped soil bacteria found all over the earth, that produce “cry” proteins which are indigestible by—yet still “bind”…

A (rod-shaped) aerobic bacterium commonly used as a host in recombinant DNA experiments. Type species of the ubiquitous saprophytic aerobic Gram-positive spore-bearing bacilli which possess features similar to B. anthracis. B. subtilis is noted for the penicillinase potential of some strains. A widespread bacterium found as a saprophyte in soil and water, frequently encountered as…

A helical form of DNA. B-DNA can be formed by adding back water to (dehydrated) A-DNA. B-DNA is the form of DNA of which James Watson and Francis Crick first constructed their model in 1953. It is found in fibers of very high (92 percent) relative humidity and in solutions of low ionic strength. This…