Technology
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is used in microbiology to amplify (replicate many times) a single DNA sequence. If required, the sequence can also be altered in predetermined ways. Real-time PCR is used for the rapid detection of microorganisms and is currently employed in diagnostic clinical microbiology laboratories, environmental analysis, food microbiology, and many other fields. The closely related technique of quantitative PCR (qPCR) permits the quantitative measurement of DNA or RNA molecules and is used to estimate the densities of the reference pathogens in food, water and environmental samples. qPCR provides both specificity and quantification of target microorganisms.
Gel electrophoresis is used routinely in microbiology to separate DNA, RNA, or protein molecules using an electric field by virtue of their size, shape or electric charge.
Southern blotting, northern blotting, western blotting and Eastern blotting are molecular techniques for detecting the presence of microbial DNA sequences (Southern), RNA sequences (northern), protein molecules (western) or protein modifications (Eastern).
DNA microarrays are used in microbiology as the modern alternative to the "blotting" techniques. Microarrays permit the exploration of thousands of sequences at one time. This technique is used in molecular microbiology to detect the presence of pathogens in a sample (air, water, organ tissue, etc.). It is also used to determine the genetic differences between two microbial strains.
DNA sequencing and genomics have been used for many decades in molecular microbiology studies. Due to their relatively small size, viral genomes were the first to be completely analysed by DNA sequencing. A huge range of sequence and genomic data is now available for a number of species and strains of microorganisms.
RNA interference (RNAi) was discovered as a cellular gene regulation mechanism in 1998, but several RNAi-based applications for gene silencing have already made it into clinical trials. RNA interference (RNAi) technology has formed the basis of novel tools for biological research and drug discovery.
Read more about this topic: Molecular Microbiology
Famous quotes containing the word technology:
“Technology is not an image of the world but a way of operating on reality. The nihilism of technology lies not only in the fact that it is the most perfect expression of the will to power ... but also in the fact that it lacks meaning.”
—Octavio Paz (b. 1914)
“Primitive peoples tried to annul death by portraying the human body—we do it by finding substitutes for the human body. Technology instead of mysticism!”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)
“Radio put technology into storytelling and made it sick. TV killed it. Then you were locked into somebody else’s sighting of that story. You no longer had the benefit of making that picture for yourself, using your imagination. Storytelling brings back that humanness that we have lost with TV. You talk to children and they don’t hear you. They are television addicts. Mamas bring them home from the hospital and drag them up in front of the set and the great stare-out begins.”
—Jackie Torrence (b. 1944)