Science is beautiful when it makes simple explanations of phenomena or connections between different observations. Stephen W. Hawking, 2011 What is Photoreactivation? Photoreactivation is a type of DNA repair mechanism present in prokaryotes, archaea and in many eukaryotes. It is the recovery of ultraviolet irradiated damages of DNA by visible […]
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Artemisinin: A Wonder Phyto-drug Against Malarial Parasite: Plasmodium falciparum; & Nobel Prize Winning Contribution of Prof. Youyou Tu, China (Nobel Prize 2015: Physiology and Medicine)
. Artemisinin is an anti-malarial parasite drug extracted from a Chinese medicinal plant called sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua; Asteraceae family). It is also known as qinghaosu in Chinese and it is the most rapid acting drug currently available against the malarial parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology […]
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Nucleotide Biosynthesis (De-novo & Salvage Synthesis of Purine & Pyrimidine Nucleotides in the Cells)
“The formation of DNA’s structure by Watson and Crick may turn out to be the greatest developments in the field of molecular genetics in recent years” Linus Pauling, 1953 Purines (Adenine & Guanine) and pyrimidines (Thymine, Cytosine & Uracil) are the two classes of nucleotides which forms the nucleic acids (DNA […]
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Enzyme Specificity (Biochemistry Lecture Notes)
.“There is more to life than increasing its speed…” (Mahatma Gandhi) Enzymes are biological catalysts. They accelerate the rate of metabolic reactions in the cells by reducing the activation energy of the reactants. Almost all enzymes are specialized proteins with definite structural conformations. Important characteristic features of enzyme are: […]
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Biochemistry of Plasma Membrane Lipids: Properties, Structure and Classification (Biochemistry Lecture Notes)
“Good fences make good neighbors” Robert Frost, “Mending Wall”, 1914 Biological membrane system: Biological membranes are highly dynamic two layers thick sheath like structures formed by the non-covalent assemblage of lipids, proteins and carbohydrates. They form closed boundaries between different compartments of the cells such as separation of nucleoplasm from the […]
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