Biochemistry

Biochemistry

The scientific study of the chemistry of living matter.

Contributors in Biochemistry

Biochemistry

A multiplex method for scanning genomic DNA samples for the presence of specific mutations. PCR primers complementary to the mutant and wild-type sequences are immobilised at coded loci on a surface ...

Strand displacement amplification (SDA)

Biology; Biochemistry

A technique for amplification of DNA sequences. The source DNA is denatured and hybridised to phosphorothioated primers. HincII nicks its target site on the unmodified strand of the heteroduplex and ...

Linker-scanner mutation

Biology; Biochemistry

A method to assess the importance of various regions of a protein to its function by introduction of a dipeptide sequence into random sites of the protein. A plasmid that contains a structural gene ...

Hook region

Biology; Biochemistry

A normally protected but reactive sequence of the α 2 -macroglobulin molecule, which is a scavenger for many proteinases in the blood. A proteinase can cleave a peptide bond in the protein's bait ...

Loop

Biology; Biochemistry

A packing structure of eukaryotic DNA that may be identical to a replicon. It is seen when the DNA is unfolded and visualised by electron microscopy, and shows the polynucleotide extending from ...

Signal sequence

Biology; Biochemistry

The N-terminal portion of a secretory or membrane protein that assists it across the membrane of the rough endoplasmic reticulum, where it is synthesized, but is cleaved from the protein even before ...

Sulphur cycle

Biology; Biochemistry

The passage of sulphur from organic to inorganic forms, from substituents of cells to minerals, via the following steps: (1) uptake of sulphate from soil by organisms and conversion into organic ...