Biology Blogs For Class 11th, 12th & NEET

                                       Phylum - Chordata               Class Amphibia  As the name indicates (Gr., Amphi : dual, bios, life), amphibians can live in aquatic as well as terrestrial habitats. Most of them have two pairs of limbs. Body is divisible into head and trunk. Tail may be present in some. The amphibian skin is moist (without scales). The eyes have eyelids.  A tympanum represents the ear. Alimentary canal, urinary and reproductive tracts open into a common chamber called cloaca hich opens to the exterior. Respiration is by gills, lungs and through skin. The heart is threechambered (two auricles and one ventricle). These are cold-blooded animals. Sexes are separate. Fertilisation is external. They are oviparous and development is indirect. Earliest amphibians - Ichthyostega basically a fish wi...

                                       Phylum Chordata dorsal, hollow nerve cord – becomes the brain   spinal cord notochord   - flexible, fibrous rod along the back (replaced by vertebrae in advanced vertebrates) pharyngeal gill slits - openings in the throat region. postanal tail – most other animals with tails near the anus have anus at end of the tail. T hese features may each be lost or altered in the adult. This phylum has three subphyla: 1. Cephalochordata, 2. Urochordata, and 3. Vertebrata 1. Subphylum Cephalochordata (clade) – lancelets fishlike creatures that bury selves in mud and filter feed all four key chordate feature present in adults like vertebrates, muscles broken up into bands called myomeres (body segmentation) essentially no brain in adults Ex.- Urochordata – Ascidia, Salpa, 2. Subphylum Urochordata...

                          Phylum Mollusca (clade) – mollusks  very successful phylum: over 93,000 named, living species The largest number of living species for animals after Arthropoda  mostly aquatic, but over 35,000 terrestrial species (more than all terrestrial vertebrates)  includes snails, slugs, clams, oysters, chitons, cuttlefish, octopi, etc.  from microscopic to 21 m (giant squid – largest invertebrate)  economically important (food, ornamentation, currency, pests)  Defining Characteristics Of Mollusks:   Bilateral symmetry with true coelom ; usually have a differentiated head unsegmented (some argument as to whether lost during evolution or never present in phylum)   Three main body parts : muscular foot, visceral mass, and mantle muscular foot – used for locomotion, food capture, attachment  · may be solid or have tentacles or maybe a “wing” ...

                                     Amino Acid Amino acids are organic compounds containing amine (-NH2) and carboxyl (-COOH) functional groups, along with a side chain (R group) specific to each amino acid. Amino Acids Structure Amino acids have the general form H2NCHRCOOH. (or)   General properties of Amino Acids ·          Amino acids are soluble in water and insoluble in hydrocarbon solutions. ·          They are crystalline solid substances. ·          They have very high melting point compared to their boiling point. List of Amino Acids There are around twenty amino acids, which are involved in the construction of proteins. The lists of twenty amino acids are: Alanine, aspartic acid, asparagines, arg...

                                              What is Pisciculture? Pisciculture is a branch of animal husbandry that deals with the rearing and cultivation of fish in controlled environments such as ponds, tanks, and other enclosures. The term comes from the Latin words "piscis" , meaning fish, and "culture" , meaning to cultivate or rear. Pisciculture is a major part of aquaculture , which includes the farming of other aquatic organisms like prawns, mollusks, and aquatic plants. Today, pisciculture has become an important source of income and nutrition, especially in countries with access to freshwater and coastal resources. Why is Pisciculture Important? Fish and fish products are considered some of the healthiest sources of animal protein . They are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins (like D and B2), and essential minerals (like calcium and phosphorus). With i...

                     Gram-Positive Bacteria & Gram-Negative   Bacteria have a cell wall made up of polysaccharides known as Peptidoglycans which gave them strength and rigidity and this is important since bacteria observe some osmotic pressure due to the variation of different solutions they encounter and their cell wall which prevents the cell from shrinking or swelling. So , on the basis of the cell wall and the pattern of gram staining, bacteria are classified into two categories - Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative. Gram-positive bacteria  have double-thick walls which consist of around 30 layers of peptidoglycan and surrounds a single plasma membrane.  They do not have an outer cell membrane but have a complex cell wall made up of teichoic acid.  For example - Staphylococci.   Gram-negative bacteria  have a much thinner cell wall consisting of peptidoglycans having high lipid content...

                                      Western Blotting Western blotting is a type of blotting which is used for identifying particular protein from a sample by using an antibody specific to that protein. This technique was developed by Towbin and his co-worker in 1979. This technique is also known by another name Immunoblot . In this method nitrocellulose and nylon, the membrane is used for blotting. Sometime Polyvinylidene fluoride is also used for blotting purposes. The probe used is an antibody to detect a specific protein. The positive signal indicates that the protein of interest is present in the given sample. The antibody is labeled with radioactive material so that it produces light after combining it with the enzymes. Detection -  Western blotting can be detected in two ways - Direct Detection -  Primary antibody which is made up of purifying the desired pro...