Enantiomers: The Enantiomers are defined as the compounds that are minor images but non-super impossible upon each other and have identical physical and chemical properties, except their behaviour towards the plane polarized light. They rotate…

Racemic mixture: Equi-molecular (50:50) mixture of two optical isomers will not rotate the plane of the polarized light, as their rotatory power is equal in magnitude but opposite in sign/ direction. This is called racemic…

Restriction enzyme: The enzyme which is used to dissect the particular part of a DNA is said to be Restriction Enzyme. They are used to assist insertion of genes into plasmid vectors during gene cloning…

Heterotrophic bacteria are the most abundant in nature. The majority are important decomposers. Many of them have a significant impact on human affairs. They are helpful in making curd from milk, production of antibiotics, fixing…

There are thousands of different eubacteria or ‘true bacteria‘. They are characterized by the presence of a rigid cell wall and if motile, a flagellum. The cyanobacteria (also referred to as blue-green algae) have chlorophyll…

Archaebacteria Sub-kingdom of the kingdom Prokaryote.  These bacteria are special since they live in some of the most harsh habitats such as extreme salty areas (halophiles), hot springs (thermoacidophiles) and marshy areas (methanogens). Fig: Archaebacteria Archaebacteria differ from…

Bacteria are the sole members of the Kingdom Monera. They are the most abundant micro-organisms. Bacteria occur almost everywhere. Hundreds of bacteria are present in a handful of soil. They also live in extreme habitats…

Fungi (Sing: Fungus) are non-green; there are no photosynthetic pigments in their body. They depend on dead organic substances or other living bodies for their food. A short description of Agaricus- a member of fungi…