In this unit, we focused on the subject of genetic code. We learned about DNA. It is a double helix spiral that contains all the information to make proteins and all of us. DNA has two complementary parts, the 3 5 and the 5 3 which there are purines and pyrimidines which pare up with each other A T and G C. The four bases are adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine. The sides alternate between phosphate and sugar. DNA is semi conservative replication which means that half of the DNA remains original. DNA polymerase breaks the bonds of DNA and unzips it and a new strand forms on each original strand. The Central Dogma says that it starts at DNA and then goes to RNA and then goes to ribosome. The DNA is transcribed into RNA by making a complementary strand of the DNA and replacing Thymine bases with Uracil. You then Translate it from genetic code to protein code in the ribosome. Each three bases, a codon, maps to an amino acid. These are assembled and these long amino acid chains become proteins. Mutations are also very important because they are changes in the genetic code. If they are small changes they rarely do anything but if they are big changes they can be very harmful. Two types of mutations are frameshift mutations and substitution. Substitution replaces one pair and doesn't cause many problems especially if it doesn't change the amino acid. A frameshift mutation, however changes every amino acid after the mutation and causes huge changes. There are two types of frameshift mutations: insertion and deletion. Gene expression and Regulation is very important because it determines which genes are expressed. If there was no gene regulation, there would be no cell differentiation and all the cell will be able to do the work of all the cells, but it will take it more time and energy which could cause death in the organism.
I believe my strengths in this unit was the understanding of DNA and RNA because it built upon things I'd learnt in previous years. My weakness was in gene expression and regulation because I was unfamiliar with the topic. One of the setbacks was being sick which caused me to not be in class for the day we were supposed to go over the gene expression and regulation vodacast. I want to learn more about gene expression and gene regulation because that is my weakest point. I would like to know how understanding it could help us understand certain diseases like cancer which are cause by no cell apoptosis which leads to cells being replicated more times than a normal cell should. I think I became better at studying over this unit because of the upcoming final. I started to apply the studying techniques such as writing into memory and self assessment. Not having the vodcast notes for two of the vodacasts made them take longer than just filling them out on the printed paper, but it made it easier to remember many of the details.
Friday, December 16, 2016
Protein Synthesis Lab
Protein is made by reading the DNA instructions. You start with a strand of DNA that contains the code to create protein. The DNA is unwounded by the RNA polymerase and it is turned into single stranded RNA. The RNA is the complimentary strand of the DNA copied and all Thymine bases are turned into Uracil. mRNA goes to the ribosome where the protein is assembled. tRNA takes 3 bases, or a codon, and matches it to a amino acid which the ribosome attaches to the amino acid strand. This forms an amino acid strand which turns into a protein.
In our lab, we found that substitution causes the least effect. Only one letter of one codon was changed which at most could change one amino acid but it didn't in our lab. Deletion of the T caused the biggest effect on the protein in our experiment. Every amino acid after the error was changed. It does not matter where the substitution takes place because it will always cause little error. The level of change caused by insertion and deletion depend on where there position was. If the deletion of the T was near the end, it wouldn't have changed as much.
I added 2 deletions and one insertion near the beginning to create the biggest change. Frameshift mutations like deletions and insertions create the most changes. Having them close to the beginning created the most changes because everything after the mutation changes. I had 2 deletions because they showed the most diversity in the lab. I didn't have three of the same mutation because it has a chance of not changing all the acids after the mutation.
Mutations are very important because they have the potential to cause life threatening changes or potentially helpful traits. One example of a harmful mutation is proteus syndrome. One mutation in the AKT1 gene causes this disorder. It causes body parts, specifically the limbs and head, to become very big. This could potentially cause premature death do to deep vein thrombosis and your neck not being able to support the weight of your head if it affects your head.
In our lab, we found that substitution causes the least effect. Only one letter of one codon was changed which at most could change one amino acid but it didn't in our lab. Deletion of the T caused the biggest effect on the protein in our experiment. Every amino acid after the error was changed. It does not matter where the substitution takes place because it will always cause little error. The level of change caused by insertion and deletion depend on where there position was. If the deletion of the T was near the end, it wouldn't have changed as much.
I added 2 deletions and one insertion near the beginning to create the biggest change. Frameshift mutations like deletions and insertions create the most changes. Having them close to the beginning created the most changes because everything after the mutation changes. I had 2 deletions because they showed the most diversity in the lab. I didn't have three of the same mutation because it has a chance of not changing all the acids after the mutation.
Mutations are very important because they have the potential to cause life threatening changes or potentially helpful traits. One example of a harmful mutation is proteus syndrome. One mutation in the AKT1 gene causes this disorder. It causes body parts, specifically the limbs and head, to become very big. This could potentially cause premature death do to deep vein thrombosis and your neck not being able to support the weight of your head if it affects your head.
Monday, December 5, 2016
DNA Extraction Lab
In this lab, we wanted to see whether we could extract DNA from our cheek. We found that we could could do this in a 3 step process: homogenization, lysis, and precipitation. This was proven by our experiment where we saw the DNA that we collected between the gatorade and alcohol. This meant that the procedure we followed was correct and we had arrived at the correct result. This also makes sense because the procedure fore DNA extraction involves homogenization, lysis, and precipitation and we used this guide to find the correct procedure. These processes breakdown the cell and separate DNA from the rest of the cell. We grouped the steps into one of the three categories and rearranged those steps into what seemed intuitively correct based on the definition of the step.
There were many possible errors that could have affected the results of this experiment. One possible error is that we mixed up certain steps because we weren't given the actual order of steps for the experiment. Another possible error is that we might have gotten food or other materials inside the gatorade while rinsing. Finally, the end result might not have been DNA and it could have been another substance because we never tested to see what it was. All these errors could cause this experiment to be invalid because what we observed might not be DNA. There are many things we can do to prevent the errors we encountered in this experiment. One thing we can do to prevent food getting into out sample is rinsing our mouth before the experiment. Another thing we can do is get more information about DNA extraction before doing the lab because we had a very faint idea of what we were doing, and some of it was just guessing where the steps were instead of understanding why each step is in its order. Another thing we can do is test the DNA we have to see whether it is actually DNA.
The purpose of this lab is to test whether we can extract DNA from our cheek. This lab helped us better understand the process of DNA extraction. We specifically learned of the processes such as homogenization, lysis, and precipitation, which are used to breakdown a cell and histones and to separate DNA from the rest of the substance. This experiment taught us stuff that has a lot of practical applications. This process can be used in crime labs to check the DNA of a criminal. It could also be used by Doctors who want to sequence someone's DNA. Biologists can use this on animals to check their DNA for research purposes. This also taught us about how to figure out how to go about accomplishing an experiment, and how to manage our time in a project that has a limited time frame.
There were many possible errors that could have affected the results of this experiment. One possible error is that we mixed up certain steps because we weren't given the actual order of steps for the experiment. Another possible error is that we might have gotten food or other materials inside the gatorade while rinsing. Finally, the end result might not have been DNA and it could have been another substance because we never tested to see what it was. All these errors could cause this experiment to be invalid because what we observed might not be DNA. There are many things we can do to prevent the errors we encountered in this experiment. One thing we can do to prevent food getting into out sample is rinsing our mouth before the experiment. Another thing we can do is get more information about DNA extraction before doing the lab because we had a very faint idea of what we were doing, and some of it was just guessing where the steps were instead of understanding why each step is in its order. Another thing we can do is test the DNA we have to see whether it is actually DNA.
The purpose of this lab is to test whether we can extract DNA from our cheek. This lab helped us better understand the process of DNA extraction. We specifically learned of the processes such as homogenization, lysis, and precipitation, which are used to breakdown a cell and histones and to separate DNA from the rest of the substance. This experiment taught us stuff that has a lot of practical applications. This process can be used in crime labs to check the DNA of a criminal. It could also be used by Doctors who want to sequence someone's DNA. Biologists can use this on animals to check their DNA for research purposes. This also taught us about how to figure out how to go about accomplishing an experiment, and how to manage our time in a project that has a limited time frame.
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