Categories
Cell Biology

DNA organization inside the nucleus

Chromosomes, chromatin, nucleosomes, genes, alleles? What is the difference between these terms? What are their roles? And how are they organized inside each one of the small cells of an organism? When you hear these words, you might think that they are pretty much the same, or you may not be able to distinguish their […]

Categories
Molecular Biology

The genetic material

DNA or Deoxyribonucleic acid is the genetic material of all the cells and most viruses, with the exception of some viruses that use another type of nucleic acid, called RNA or Ribonucleic acid. As we will see in the following posts, DNA presents some characteristics that make it the ideal molecule to carry out the […]

Categories
Microbiology

What are viruses?

Viruses are microscopic parasites whose size belongs to the nanometer scale. They can invade the cells of other organisms in order to reproduce, since they don’t have the ability to do that independently, outside of their hosts. You might be familiar with the viruses infecting people but all the living organisms on our planet are […]