1,722 Answered Questions for the topic biochemistry

Biochemistry Proteins

07/09/19

Why is absorbance at 280 nm for protein solution going up when I measure repeatedly?
I have been measuring my protein solutions' concentrations by diluting them in water 20 fold with a final volume of 100 uL and then measuring the absorbances of these solutions in 96 well plates... more
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07/09/19

What is an aromatic cage and what does it do?
Epigenetics, 2. ed, Chapter 3.6:> Similarly, methylated lysine residues embedded in histone tails can be> read by “aromatic cages” present in chromodomains, or similar domains> (e.g., MBT,... more
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07/08/19

Why are enzyme-catalysed reactions slower at lower substrate concentration?
Suppose I'm using 200 nmoles of enzyme and 2 mmoles of substrate. The enzyme should be saturated but if I use 50 mmoles of substrate, the reaction will be faster. Why?I just can't get it! Even at... more
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Biochemistry Fruit Food

07/08/19

What exactly makes bananas go brown?
I know that often oxidation processes are mentioned when referring to the color change from yellow to brown in bananas (specifically: those that you get everywhere in supermarkets, with no... more
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Biochemistry Hematology Red Blood Cell

07/08/19

Why do red blood cells maintain Iron in the Haem group in the +2 (ferrous) oxidation state?
A lot of sources tell me that RBCs contain a number of enzymes, and that these serve multiple functions from maintaining the structure and elasticity of the corpuscle wall, to preventing the... more
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07/05/19

Is there a reliable source for storage and stability of reducing agents like DTT?
Reading the literature on DTT, one is confronted with a confusing mass of papers; some claim that a 1M solution in water is stable, other papers say it is not. I use the reaction with DTNB to show... more
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Biochemistry Cellular Respiration

07/05/19

How is respiration an unbalanced equation?
The equation for respiration is... more
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07/05/19

What biological processes cause leaves to change colours in Autumn?
I am curious to learn what are the biological mechanisms that cause leaves of deciduous plants to change colour? What happens to the chlorophyll?What environmental phenomena (temperature/air... more
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07/03/19

Why can't you just take a vitamin? Why you need a healthy diet on top of that?
From what I understand, your body needs certain amounts of vitamins and minerals to maintain health. Why can't we just take enough pills to obtain these vitamins and minerals?
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Biochemistry Literature Cell Biology

07/03/19

Is there a difference in cytoplasmic pH between prokaryotes and eukaryotes?
The cytosolic pH in human cells is [around 7.4, but fluctuates as the cell is replicating](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2114443/). Prokaryotes and eukaryotes are vastly different in... more
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Biochemistry Metabolism Glucose

07/03/19

Why is GTP, not ATP, produced in Gluconeogenesis & TCA Cycle?
In both gluconeogenesis and the TCA cycle, there is a point in each that GTP is produced instead of the usual ATP. My question is why GTP and not ATP for these 2 specific steps?
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Biochemistry

07/02/19

What would happen if Carbon-14 was in a glucose molecule and decayed into Nitrogen?
This interested me because of Melvin Calvin's experiment with photosynthesis where he used radioactive Carbon-14. If a plant used it as a reactant to make glucose, and that Carbon-14 decayed into... more
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Biochemistry Cell Biology

07/02/19

When collecting cell lysates for a Western blot, how do I induce di-sulfide bonds?
I would like to conduct a simple dimerization experiment for some protein I'm collecting from a cultured cells. My thought is, that if I'm running a non-reducing, denaturing PAGE gel, then removing... more
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Biochemistry Enzymes

07/02/19

How can facultative anaerobes exist without catalase?
>Catalase-negative bacteria may be anaerobes, or they may be **facultative anaerobes** that only ferment and do not respire using oxygen as a terminal electron acceptor<br />A facultative... more
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Biochemistry Rna Molecular Biology

07/02/19

What stops messenger RNA from binding to itself?
Since mRNA is single-stranded, and (mostly) floats freely within the cytosol, what stops it from folding onto itself (like DNA) and preventing transcription?
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Biochemistry Amino Acids Proteins

07/02/19

Why is glycine considered a nonpolar amino acid but a polar molecule?
Glycine has a dipole moment, so why is it considered a nonpolar amino acid when discussing its occurrence in proteins?Also, is the backbone of a protein nonpolar?
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07/01/19

What exactly happens if during translation, an amino acid is not present?
Lets say that the cell wants to make a particular protein. Transcription of the appropriate gene is done and the mRNA is made. mRNA attaches to the ribosome and the translation is initiated in a... more
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07/01/19

Why does high pH result in the denaturation of DNA?
In the Southern blot method, for example, a solution of NaOH is used to denature the DNA in the sample. I find this counterintuitive since I expected that $\ ext{Na}^+$ cations would neutralize... more
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06/30/19

Why doesn't surgical steel cause inflammation?
It seems some very specific alloys like implant surgical steel and titanium don't cause inflammation in the human body, but when I asked my doctor about it, they simply said "it just has some... more
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06/28/19

why is AUG the initiation codon?
Is there any reason why AUG is the initiation codon ?Why is there a need for an initiation codon ? Can't translation start with different codons?
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06/27/19

Is it possible to synthesize chiral version of an organism (incompatible with our pathogens)?
In theory, it should be possible to synthesize chiral (mirror image) version of some organism: with all molecules replaced with their enantiomers, e.g. L-sugars in place of our D-sugars.Direct... more
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Biochemistry Carbon Dioxide Blood Ph

06/27/19

The Bohr Shift Changes the Affinity of Hemoglobin for Oxygen
What is the Bohr Shift and why is it significant in restoring pH levels in the blood to normal?
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06/26/19

What are the roles of guanidine-HCl and ethanol in binding of DNA to silica?
I'm trying to understand how exactly the binding to silica gel (in kits) step works and I cannot find any papers which provide an explanation of the physics or chemistry; especially on the way that... more
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Biochemistry Nutrition

06/25/19

Is cyanocobalamin toxic?
I see that cyanocobalamin is not naturally occurring, and is synthesized in vivo to methylcobalamin. As part of the synthetic pathway, cyanide is broken off. All opinions I can find are that this... more
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06/25/19

How does CO₂ concentration affect photosynthesis?
I have heard the theory that with the increase of CO<sub>2</sub> in the air, the speed of the photosynthesis would increase, thereby limiting the increase of CO<sub>2</sub>... more
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