We believe that behind every invention and discovery there is always a curious mind working. This section of BioNE, is dedicated to all those young curious minds who have been thinking and working on unexplored possibilities in the horizon of biological sciences. Today’s learning process is no longer confined in books, rather it is based on questioning beyond the existing knowledge and searching for relevant answers. Here, we are inviting all those curious minds to put up questions and bring up a joint platform to share their ideas. Please mail your questions to bione@vetbifguwahati.ernet.in
Q. Is there any other technique for animal cell culture other than in a flask? –Moromi Barman, 5th semester, B.Sc. Biotechnology
Answer: Animal cell culture is generally carried out as an attachment culture in laboratory. However, animal cells can also be grown as suspension culture for various purposes, mostly pharmaceutical. Recently, animal cell were grown on 3D scaffolds to behave like an organ. It is also known as tissue engineering.
Q. Is there any application of molecular biology to protect endangered species? –Sujita Boro, 5th semester, B.Sc. Biotechnology
Answer: There are lot of efforts to protect endangered animals by wildlife protection policies. One of such measures is the captive breeding programme. In such a programme, animals are screened and allowed to breed so that a healthy genetic pool is maintained. Moreover, different molecular marker studies are carried out to study their population to carry out selective breeding. Latest developments in in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer technology have also made it possible to have rapid generation of hundreds of offsprings from elite animals with the objective of increasing reproductive efficiency and conservation of endangered species.
Q. How can we combine only desirable character and eliminate all other undesirable characters during artificial breeding of organisms? -Ritwik Nandi Mazumdar, 5th semester, B.Sc. Biotechnology
Answer: We can eliminate undesirable characters and include all desirables ones in an organism by selective breeding. For doing so we have to characterize an animal at the molecular level by looking for desirable genes using molecular markers. Fully characterized animals with genetic potential of desired traits are used in a selective breeding programme for getting desirable productive or reproductive characteristics in the offspring.
Q. What is the speciality of real-time PCR which makes it special from conventional PCR? -Papiya Sen, 5th semester, B.Sc. Biotechnology
Answer: Real time PCR gives one an ability to quantify the level of expression of genes either relative to a housekeeping gene or in absolute quantity. You can detect the number of copies of DNA amplified in every cycle of PCR. These features are not available in a conventional PCR. Moreover, with real-time PCR in a very short period of time we can detect a pathogen without any ambiguity.
Q. What will be the difference in product if elongation time is not ideal in a PCR reaction? -Kankana Deka, 5th semester, B.Sc. Biotechnology
Answer: Elongation time is an important parameter in a PCR reaction. Taq polymerases marketed today have different rates of extension, e.g. 1 kb/min. Hence, one should set the elongation time according to the desired product length. If the elongation time is not ideal or optimal, there may be no products despite keeping all other parameters correct.
