Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends, or RACE, is one of the most effective methods to obtain a full-length cDNA from an mRNA sequence between a known internal region to the unknown sequence at the 5’ or 3’ end. The unknown region is cloned in the cDNA by a gene-specific primer that binds the known end, and a hybrid primer that attaches a predefined anchor sequence to the unknown end of the cDNA. The sequence in between is amplified by PCR with an anchor primer and a gene-specific primer.
Since the...

Bacteria and archaea are susceptible to viral infections just like eukaryotes; therefore, they have developed a unique adaptive immune system to protect themselves. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated proteins (CRISPR-Cas) are present in more than 45% of known bacteria and 90% of known archaea.
The CRISPR-Cas system stores a copy of foreign DNA in the host genome and uses it to identify the foreign DNA upon reinfection. CRISPR-Cas has three different...

The energy released from the breakdown of the chemical bonds within nutrients can be stored either through the reduction of electron carriers or in the bonds of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). In living systems, a small class of compounds functions as mobile electron carriers, molecules that bind to and shuttle high-energy electrons between compounds in pathways. The principal electron carriers that will be considered originate from the B vitamin group and are derivatives of nucleotides; they are...

Relating Reaction Mechanisms
In a multistep reaction mechanism, one of the elementary steps progresses significantly slower than the others. This slowest step is called the rate-limiting step (or rate-determining step). A reaction cannot proceed faster than its slowest step, and hence, the rate-determining step limits the overall reaction rate.
The concept of rate-determining step can be understood from the analogy of a 4-lane freeway with a short-stretch of traffic-bottleneck caused due to...

Rab proteins constitute the largest family of monomeric GTPases, of which 70 members are present in humans. Rab proteins and their effectors regulate consecutive stages of vesicle transport such as vesicle transport, docking, and fusion to the correct recipient membrane.
Rab proteins switch between a cytosolic, GDP-bound inactive state and a membrane-anchored, GTP-bound active state. By themselves, Rabs show slow rates of GDP/GTP exchange and GTP hydrolysis. Thus, Rab proteins are considered...

The potency of a drug is the measure of its ability to produce a biological response and can be compared by looking at the half-maximum effective concentration or EC50 values of different drugs. A lower EC50 value indicates higher potency of the drug. In the dose–response curve of two antihypertensive drugs, candesartan and irbesartan, a significant difference is observed in their EC50 values. A lower EC50 value for candesartan indicates that it is more potent than irbesartan, as it produces...