Compound Interest: biology

The Chemistry of Spider Venom

May 21, 2015 9Comments 4Likes 322Views

Spiders are the most numerous venomous animals on the planet; the number of species predicted to be in existence, 150,000, is thought to be greater than the numbers of all other venomous creatures combined. Almost all spiders, with only a few exceptions, produce venom, which serves the primary purpose of immobilising their prey. However, the content of this venom can vary wildly from species to species, and the majority are not harmful to humans. This graphic takes a look at some of the different possible components, and their roles in venoms.

What makes up the Chemical Structure of DNA?

March 24, 2015 13Comments 3Likes 370Views

Infographic on the structure of DNA. DNA has a sugar-phosphate backbone with a set of four different bases holding its two strands together. DNA acts as a code for building proteins. An enzyme transcribes it into mRNA, which carries the code out of cell nuclei, then ribosome build proteins from the code. — Click to enlarge

Today’s post crosses over into the realm of biochemistry, with a look at the chemical structure of DNA, and its role in creating proteins in our cells. Of course, it’s not just in humans that DNA is found – it’s present in the cells of every multicellular life form on Earth. This graphic provides an overview of its common structure across these life forms and a brief explanation of how it allows proteins to be generated.

The Chemistry of Slug Pellets

March 12, 2015 7Comments 0Likes 256Views

Slugs and snails are common garden pests, and gardeners often turn to slug pellets in order to fend them off. What exactly are those blue pellets made of, though, and can they pose a risk to other animals as well as molluscs? This graphic examines the compounds used, and their potential undesired effects, as well as some of the alternatives available.

A Brief Guide to the Twenty Common Amino Acids

September 16, 2014 21Comments 5Likes 614Views

20 Common Amino Acids v3 — click to enlarge

The proteins that make up living organisms are huge molecules, but they’re composed of tinier building blocks, known as amino acids. There are over 500 amino acids found in nature, yet, of these, the human genetic code only directly codes for 20. Every protein in your body is made up of some linked combination of these amino acids – this graphic shows the structure of each, as well as giving a little information on the notation used to represent them.

The Chemical Composition of Insect Venoms v2

The Chemical Compositions of Insect Venoms

August 28, 2014 21Comments 1Like 344Views

Insect venoms are complicated. Really complicated. You could be forgiven for thinking that it must be a relatively simple company of chemicals that makes up the painful sensation of a bee or wasp sting, but in fact a hugely complex mixture of all sorts of compounds – proteins, peptides, enzymes, and other smaller molecules – go into a small amount of venom. The range of compounds is far too vast to detail every single one – but we can examine some of the major constituents in bee, wasp, hornet and ant venom.