Found 292 Articles for Biotechnology

What is Lymphatic System and How Does it, Work? Within the human body, there is a system that works as a drainage network helping to keep the fluids balanced while also helping to fight against infections. This network is called the lymphatic system which works with the circulatory system. The lymphatic system is mainly involved in the removal of excess fluid from the body tissues and returning it to the bloodstream. Hence the lymphatic system is a subsystem for the both circulatory and immune systems. Lymphatics are usually present all over the body except the areas like CNS, bone, teeth, ... Read More

Lymph Nodes in Relation to an Immune System Lymph nodes are the secondary lymphoid organs of the lymphatic system. Usually the term lymphoid belongs to immune system-related functions. The lymphatic system which is an extension of the circulatory system usually carries the lymph back to the bloodstream. This lymphatic system does not have any pump but the motion of the lymph mainly occurs due to muscular movements. As the lymphatic system dumps back the lymph into the circulatory system it is said to be a backup drainage system to prevent excess fluid retention in the tissues which can lead to ... Read More

What is an Infection? In clinical microbiology, to have knowledge of the basics one should learn to know a few very important terms like infection, immunity, disease, etc. The main terms infection and immunity are the effects which are resulted from an interaction between the host and a micro-organism. Infection occurs when organisms find their way into the host body and grow in numbers beyond the level that the immune system is able to defend against. So infection usually occurs when the natural host’s defenses like cilia, intact skin, gastric acid, and the immune system are compromised or overpowered. Infections ... Read More

Introduction Term Germplasm is explained as all the genotypes of a species that could be used for breeding a new genotype. Germplasm conservation is the most effective way for maintaining the genetic traits of endangered and commercially important plants. It must be protected to ensure variability for future species improvement. For plants, germplasm may be stored as pollen, seed, stems, calli, and even a whole plant whereas for animals, genes, and body parts are stored in a gene bank or cryobank. Conventional germplasm is considered as seeds stored at ambient temperature, low temperature, and ultra-low temperatures. But many seeds produce ... Read More

What is Regeneration? Every organism either a plant or an animal has a natural ability to grow and regenerate to a variable extent. This includes an example that every day millions of cells die and for us to survive we need to replace them with new and healthy cells. Similarly, in a plant, if we cut a shoot or its part or perform cloning it will regrow itself. It is due to the meristem cells an organism produces new cells of the same type as well as different types which differentiates to form a specialized tissue, cells, organs, and even ... Read More

Introduction Normally our immune system shows a response towards the foreign antigen and does not act against self-antigens. This phenomenon is known as self-tolerance. It refers to the lack of responsiveness to the individual’s self-antigens. Hence tolerance is antigen-specific. Immune Response Immune tolerance or immunological tolerance is the state of unresponsiveness of the immune system to the substances or tissues that are capable to induce an immune response. It differs from the conventional methods of immune-mediated elimination of foreign antigens. Due to random genetic recombinations, immune cells genetically express receptors for the specific self and foreign antigens in the ... Read More

Introduction Biofilters and Bioscrubbers are the two biotechnology systems that help in controlling air pollution and odor control. Here we use biological organisms for the removal of toxins as the harmful gases and odors caused by the activities of the industries and enterprises pose a great threat to human and environmental health. How Biological Control Systems Take Out the Odor? Typically, all the biological systems use naturally occurring bacteria that feed on odor-producing substances as a food choice. Some of the bacteria are listed below Acidophilus bacteria are primarily used for the removal of H2S odor. Specific bacteria ... Read More

Introduction Our immune system produces a nearly infinite number of lymphocytes and each of these expresses unique antigen-specific receptors on its cell membrane. These receptors are encoded by the random re-arrangement of pre-existing gene segments. Antigen-specific receptors are usually generated in the early development stages of lymphocytes which is prior to the encounter with the specific antigens. These antigen-specific receptors on the T-cells are called TCR and on B cells called BCR. These lymphocyte receptors when encounters a specific antigen, get stimulated and undergo proliferation to produce the clone of specific lymphocytes, and at last these get differentiated into effector ... Read More

Introduction ADCC is a mechanism of cell-mediated immune response where an effector cell actively involves in the lysis of the target cells which have the antigens bound to the specific antibodies. If a human body is infected by several pathogens like bacteria, in that case, our body produces antibodies that can neutralize these pathogens. Here in this case of ADCC, several cellular mediators or the effector cells recognize one portion of these antibodies which are bound to the antigens, and engulf the whole cell coated by these antibodies. This is cell-mediated cytotoxicity as it involves the effector cells. ... Read More

What are Anther and Microspore Cultures? Anther culture is a technique where the developing anther that contains microspores is cut aseptically from unopened flower buds and then cultured on the nutrient medium for the purpose of generating haploid plants. Microspore or pollen culture is an in-vitro technique where the pollen grains at the uni-nucleated stage are isolated by squeezing from an intact anther and then cultured on a nutrient medium. Both the anther and pollen or microspore cultures are widely used for haploid production for crop improvement. Micropropagation It is the vegetative propagation (multiplication) of the plant under ... Read More