The Cell Cycle in Pictures

The overall process

The Cell Cycle (Photo credit)

The cell cycle describes the typical cycle of a somatic cell that will go through mitosis. 


Mitosis is divided into 4 phases:
Prophase: 
-chromatin condenses to chromosome
-nuclear envelope disintegrates and disappears
-spindle forms
Metaphase:
-chromosomes line up at the equator
Anaphase:
-chromatids are pulled to opposite poles of the cell
Telophase:
-cell plasma divides
-nuclear envelope reappears

The lac Operon

 Photo credit

What is an Operon?

An operon is a cluster of bacterial genes along with an adjacent promoter that controls the transcription of those genes. 

When the genes in an operon are transcribed, a single mRNA is produced for all the genes in that operon. This mRNA is said to be polycistronic because it carries the information for more than one type of protein.

What is the the lac Operon?

The lac operon is an operon required for the transport and metabolism of lactose in Escherichia coli and some other enteric bacteria.

 

Photo Credit

Animation is given in this site
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072556781/student_view0/chapter12/animation_quiz_4.html
or 
http://www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/biocoach/lacoperon/cyclic.html

The 20 Amino Acids

This is the basic structure of an amino acid

Structure of an Amino Acid (Photo credit)

Here are the 20 amino acids

Amino Acids (Photo credit)

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) in a Glance

                                                                       Photo credit

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a scientific technique in molecular biology to amplify a single or a few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence.

Developed in 1983 by Kary Mullis, PCR is now a common and often indispensable technique used in medical and biological research labs for a variety of applications

                                                                     Photo credit

A very good animation is given below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmlLj1aLZ7s&feature=related