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BrdU
Bromodeoxyuridine (5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine, BrdU, BUdR, BrdUrd, broxuridine) is a synthetic nucleoside analogue with a chemical structure similar to thymidine. BrdU is commonly used to study cell proliferation in living tissues and has been studied as a radiosensitizer and diagnostic tool in people with cancer. During S phase of the cell cycle (when DNA replication occurs), BrdU can be incorporated in place of thymidine in newly synthesized DNA molecules of dividing cells. Cells that have recently performed DNA replication or DNA repair can be detected with antibodies specific for BrdU using techniques such as immunohistochemistry or immunofluorescence. BrdU-labelled cells in humans can be detected up to two years after BrdU infusion. Because BrdU can replace thymidine during DNA replication, it can cause mutations, and its use is therefore potentially a health hazard. However, because it is neither radioactive nor myelotoxic at labeling concentrations, it is widely prefer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Immunohistochemistry
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is the most common application of immunostaining. It involves the process of selectively identifying antigens (proteins) in cells of a tissue section by exploiting the principle of antibodies binding specifically to antigens in biological tissues. IHC takes its name from the roots "immuno", in reference to antibodies used in the procedure, and "histo", meaning tissue (compare to immunocytochemistry). Albert Coons conceptualized and first implemented the procedure in 1941. Visualising an antibody-antigen interaction can be accomplished in a number of ways, mainly either of the following: * ''Chromogenic immunohistochemistry'' (CIH), wherein an antibody is conjugated to an enzyme, such as peroxidase (the combination being termed immunoperoxidase), that can catalyse a colour-producing reaction. * ''Immunofluorescence'', where the antibody is tagged to a fluorophore, such as fluorescein or rhodamine. Immunohistochemical staining is widely used in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mutation
In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA replication, DNA or viral replication, mitosis, or meiosis or other types of DNA repair#DNA damage, damage to DNA (such as pyrimidine dimers caused by exposure to ultraviolet radiation), which then may undergo error-prone repair (especially microhomology-mediated end joining), cause an error during other forms of repair, or cause an error during replication (DNA repair#Translesion synthesis, translesion synthesis). Mutations may also result from Insertion (genetics), insertion or Deletion (genetics), deletion of segments of DNA due to mobile genetic elements. Mutations may or may not produce detectable changes in the observable characteristics (phenotype) of an organism. Mutations play a part in both normal and abnormal biological processes including: evolution, cancer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thymidine
Thymidine (symbol dT or dThd), also known as deoxythymidine, deoxyribosylthymine, or thymine deoxyriboside, is a pyrimidine deoxynucleoside. Deoxythymidine is the DNA nucleoside T, which pairs with deoxyadenosine (A) in double-stranded DNA. In cell biology it is used to synchronize the cells in G1/early S phase. The prefix deoxy- is often left out since there are no precursors of thymine nucleotides involved in RNA synthesis. Before the boom in thymidine use caused by the need for thymidine in the production of the antiretroviral drug azidothymidine (AZT), much of the world's thymidine production came from herring sperm. Thymidine occurs almost exclusively in DNA but it also occurs in the T-loop of tRNA. Structure and properties In its composition, deoxythymidine is a nucleoside composed of deoxyribose (a pentose sugar) joined to the pyrimidine base thymine. Deoxythymidine can be phosphorylated with one, two or three phosphoric acid groups, creating dTMP (deoxythymidin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
5-Bromouridine
5-Bromouridine (abbreviated BrUrd, 5BrU, br5Urd or rarely the one letter code B) is a uridine derivative with a bromo substituent at the fifth carbon. BrUrd is incorporated into RNA and can be detected immunocytochemically and analysed by cytometry. It causes DNA damage through base substitution and increases the number of mutations. Uses Detecting half-Life activity 5-Bromouridine has also been used to detect the half-life of RNA molecules. In a method called 5'-bromo-uridine immunoprecipitation chase-deep sequencing analysis (BRIC-seq), 5'-bromouridine is used to label RNA and enable the measurement of RNA levels over time. This method was used in Tani et al.'s study determining RNA half-lives to investigate the function of non-coding RNAs. Splicing of pre-mRNA 5-Bromouridine was also used to study ''in vitro'' splicing of pre-mRNA in a study by Wansink. 5-Bromoruridine 5'-triphosphate (BruUTP) was used to label pre-mRNA and investigate the efficiency of splicing. They found ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nucleoside Analogue
Nucleoside analogues are nucleosides which contain a nucleic acid analogue and a sugar. Nucleotide analogs are nucleotides which contain a nucleic acid analogue, a sugar, and a phosphate group with one to three phosphates. Nucleoside and nucleotide analogues can be used in therapeutic drugs, including a range of antiviral products used to prevent viral replication in infected cells. The most commonly used is acyclovir, although its inclusion in this category is uncertain, because it acts as a nucleoside but contains no actual sugar, as the sugar ring is replaced by an open-chain structure. Nucleotide and nucleoside analogues can also be found naturally. Examples include ddhCTP (3ʹ-deoxy-3′,4ʹdidehydro-CTP) produced by the human antiviral protein viperin and sinefungin (a S-Adenosyl methionine analogue) produced by some ''Streptomyces''. Function These agents can be used against hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, herpes simplex, and HIV. Once they are phosphorylat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bromine
Bromine is a chemical element with the symbol Br and atomic number 35. It is the third-lightest element in group 17 of the periodic table ( halogens) and is a volatile red-brown liquid at room temperature that evaporates readily to form a similarly coloured vapour. Its properties are intermediate between those of chlorine and iodine. Isolated independently by two chemists, Carl Jacob Löwig (in 1825) and Antoine Jérôme Balard (in 1826), its name was derived from the Ancient Greek (bromos) meaning "stench", referring to its sharp and pungent smell. Elemental bromine is very reactive and thus does not occur as a native element in nature but it occurs in colourless soluble crystalline mineral halide salts, analogous to table salt. In fact, bromine and all the halogens are so reactive that they form bonds in pairs—never in single atoms. While it is rather rare in the Earth's crust, the high solubility of the bromide ion (Br) has caused its accumulation in the oceans. Comme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Organobromides
Organobromine compounds, also called organobromides, are organic compounds that contain carbon bonded to bromine. The most pervasive is the naturally produced bromomethane. One prominent application of synthetic organobromine compounds is the use of polybrominated diphenyl ethers as fire-retardants, and in fact fire-retardant manufacture is currently the major industrial use of the element bromine. A variety of minor organobromine compounds are found in nature, but none are biosynthesized or required by mammals. Organobromine compounds have fallen under increased scrutiny for their environmental impact. General properties Most organobromine compounds, like most organohalide compounds, are relatively nonpolar. Bromine is more electronegative than carbon (2.9 vs 2.5). Consequently, the carbon in a carbon–bromine bond is electrophilic, i.e. alkyl bromides are alkylating agents. Carbon–halogen bond strengths, or bond dissociation energies are of 115, 83.7, 72.1, and 57. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Staining Dyes
Staining is a technique used to enhance contrast in samples, generally at the microscopic level. Stains and dyes are frequently used in histology (microscopic study of biological tissues), in cytology (microscopic study of cells), and in the medical fields of histopathology, hematology, and cytopathology that focus on the study and diagnoses of diseases at the microscopic level. Stains may be used to define biological tissues (highlighting, for example, muscle fibers or connective tissue), cell populations (classifying different blood cells), or organelles within individual cells. In biochemistry, it involves adding a class-specific ( DNA, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates) dye to a substrate to qualify or quantify the presence of a specific compound. Staining and fluorescent tagging can serve similar purposes. Biological staining is also used to mark cells in flow cytometry, and to flag proteins or nucleic acids in gel electrophoresis. Light microscopes are used for viewing st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nucleosides
Nucleosides are glycosylamines that can be thought of as nucleotides without a phosphate group. A nucleoside consists simply of a nucleobase (also termed a nitrogenous base) and a five-carbon sugar ( ribose or 2'-deoxyribose) whereas a nucleotide is composed of a nucleobase, a five-carbon sugar, and one or more phosphate groups. In a nucleoside, the anomeric carbon is linked through a glycosidic bond to the N9 of a purine or the N1 of a pyrimidine. Nucleotides are the molecular building-blocks of DNA and RNA. List of nucleosides and corresponding nucleobases The reason for 2 symbols, shorter and longer, is that the shorter ones are better for contexts where explicit disambiguation is superfluous (because context disambiguates) and the longer ones are for contexts where explicit disambiguation is judged to be needed or wise. For example, when discussing long nucleobase sequences in genomes, the CATG symbol system is much preferable to the Cyt-Ade-Thy-Gua symbol system (s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genetics Techniques
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar working in the 19th century in Brno, was the first to study genetics scientifically. Mendel studied "trait inheritance", patterns in the way traits are handed down from parents to offspring over time. He observed that organisms (pea plants) inherit traits by way of discrete "units of inheritance". This term, still used today, is a somewhat ambiguous definition of what is referred to as a gene. Trait inheritance and molecular inheritance mechanisms of genes are still primary principles of genetics in the 21st century, but modern genetics has expanded to study the function and behavior of genes. Gene structure and function, variation, and distribution are studied within the context of the cell, the organism (e.g. dominance), and within the contex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trypan Blue
Trypan blue is an azo dye. It is a direct dye for cotton textiles. In biosciences, it is used as a vital stain to selectively colour dead tissues or cells blue. Live cells or tissues with intact cell membranes are not coloured. Since cells are very selective in the compounds that pass through the membrane, in a viable cell trypan blue is not absorbed; however, it traverses the membrane in a dead cell. Hence, dead cells appear as a distinctive blue colour under a microscope. Since live cells are excluded from staining, this staining method is also described as a dye exclusion method. Background and chemistry Trypan blue is derived from toluidine, that is, any of several isomeric bases, C14H16N2, derived from toluene. Trypan blue is so-called because it can kill trypanosomes, the parasites that cause sleeping sickness. An analog of trypan blue, suramin, is used pharmacologically against trypanosomiasis. Trypan blue is also known as diamine blue and Niagara blue. The extincti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
5-Ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine
5-Ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) is a thymidine analogue which is incorporated into the DNA of dividing cells. EdU is used to assay DNA synthesis in cell culture and detect cells in embryonic, neonatal and adult animals which have undergone DNA synthesis. Whilst at high doses it can be cytotoxic, this molecule is now widely used to track proliferating cells in multiple biological systems. EdU-labelling allows cells to be isolated without denaturing RNA, allowing researchers to determine the transcriptional profile of cells. This approach has been used to assess transcription in neuronal cells and tissues that have recently divided either ''in vitro'' or ''in vivo''. Detection EdU is detected with a fluorescent azide which forms a covalent bond using click chemistry. Unlike the commonly used bromodeoxyuridine, EdU detection requires no heat or acid treatment. EdU incorporated into DNA induces DNA damage, primarily during DNA replication, which is reflected by phosphorylatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
