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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Bringing Biochemistry Home: Transforming Milk Into Yogurt, Ashley King
Bringing Biochemistry Home: Transforming Milk Into Yogurt, Ashley King
Honors Theses
Communicating the beauty and complexity of biochemistry to students in a large classroom during the pandemic: what a challenge! We undertook a novel endeavor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry by introducing a mandatory kitchen chemistry experiment in a lecture course. Milk, the epitome of our identity as mammals, also contains all of the major biochemical macromolecules studied in Biochemistry I. Further, the making of yogurt invokes physical processes that are the major processes and molecular forces that dominate the content of the course. Here, we report the results of massive parallel experiment conducted in the kitchens of the …
Chemical And Co-Solute Effects Of Polyethylene Glycol On I-Motif Formation, Lindsey Rutherford
Chemical And Co-Solute Effects Of Polyethylene Glycol On I-Motif Formation, Lindsey Rutherford
Honors Theses
DNA typically forms Watson and Crick double helix structures in which adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine pair with their complimentary DNA base. However, DNA i-motif structures can form in cytosine rich DNA, typically under slightly acidic conditions (~pH 6). DNA i-motifs are four stranded secondary structures in which cytosine pairs with cytosine to form a quadruplex. The i-motifs are typically formed in acidic conditions because of the protonation in the C•C base pair between one of the three hydrogen bases. Recent studies have suggested i-motifs can also form under neutral conditions, which is more realistic for a cell. It is …
Effects Of Crowding Agents On I-Motif Dna, Hayden Brines
Effects Of Crowding Agents On I-Motif Dna, Hayden Brines
Honors Theses
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a well-known double stranded, helical, biological molecule. In addition to its more commonly known structure, DNA can also form more complicated structures like G-quadruplexes and i-motifs (iM). The iMs are formed by cytosine rich DNA and are a four stranded structure that is typically looped around itself. The iM formation is typically pH-dependent and is favored in more acidic conditions; the pKa value is approximately 6.5. This pKa value allows for potential in vivo formation, since the cells have a pH of approximately 7.3. Due to this, iMs are thought to be powerful, innovative molecules for …