What is siRNA?

siRNA is short for small interfering RNA and acts to 'silence' a gene. It's short as its name suggests, they're usually only around 21 nucleotides long. They're also double stranded. This means that they are made up of a series of two complementary base pairs.


siRNA is called "interfering" because it disrupts translation (a part of protein synthesis which takes place within the cytoplasm). The siRNA and accosiated proteins bind to target mRNA
proteins cut mRNA into sections so it cant be translated.


siRNA prevents expression of the specific gene as its protein cant be made during translation so the protein isn't made.

Polar Bear

Polar Bears in the UK? Sounds strange but we're going to try and breed them in Scotland later this year. The last time we attempted to breed Polar Bear cubs was 25 years ago.

 

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland have begun preparing for the arrival of two bears at Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore. In the wild, make and female polar bears live separately. In order to mimic this in the park, a crate was placed in the male bears' enclosure which will be used to transport Arktos to where the female. They hope that this tactic will mean they can pair the two up without the use of a sedative.

 

What are allergies?

Loads of people have allergies, some are just an annoyance others are worse. In the worst case, it can be life threatening. An allergy is an immune system response to otherwise harmless substances such as pollen, some foods or dust. Even though these aren't harmful substances, the body identifies them as a threat and responds to them. The immune system "fights" the allergen, upon the following exposure the same response is triggered.

There are many ways of managing allergies, some as simple as avoiding the allergy or medical treatments like immunotherapy. The most common of which, is to take a form of anti histamine, this lowers the level of histamine in the blood, decreasing any symptoms you might be suffering from.

What is succession?

Succession takes place if there is a very hostile environment - by hostile, I mean pretty much inhabitable. Firstly, the pioneer species colonize the area, because they've colonized the area this causes a change in the environment. So if the pioneer species are plants then the fact they're photosynthesizing changes the environment - this change makes it less hostile to other organisms. This enables other species to colonize so the biodiversity of the area increases. This means the number of the pioneer species decreases. Going forward a good few years - the stability has now increased to a point where the environment is no where near as hostile as it was and a climax community has now reached.