Unit 5 Reflection

One of the essential understandings of Unit 5 was our Genetic Code: DNA = Deoxyribonucleic acid, its' Double Helix structure, the 3 parts of Nucleotides, how its' antiparallel, how the backbones run in opposite 5' to 3" directions from each other, the Nitrogen Bases and its' two types (Double rings: purines, Single rings: pyrimidines), the Base Pair Rules ("A" goes with "T", "G" goes with "C"), and its' function, which is a place of information for proteins. Another essential understanding was about how DNA is a copy machine: Semi-conservative Replication, which is the process of creating two identical strands of DNA from one strand, each resulting strand ending up with half of the original strand. "Walking the Dogma" was also a essential understanding in Unit 5. We learned about the structural differences between DNA and RNA, the functions of RNA (serves as temporary copy of a gene, delivers the copy to the ribosomes, and ribosomes using RNA to make proteins), Transcription (process where RNA Polymerase reads and copies the DNA code for a protein as mRNA copy) and Translation, which results in a protein. We also learned about Mutations, changes in the DNA code, Mutagon, anything that causes a mutation, point mutations, a change in 1 or 2 base pairs of DNA, when it's less and more harmful, the two type of point mutations, substitution and frameshift mutation, gene expression (process of a gene being used to produce a gene product or phenotype), and gene regulation (mechanism used by cells to increase or decrease the expression of a gene).

In this unit, my strengths were the Base Pair Rules and Transcription and Translation. I also believe that mutations were another strength of mine. For me, these topics were easy to understand and very interesting, I enjoyed going through the process of learning about these topics. I guess it was easy for me to understand them because I found them interesting, which made me eager to learn about them. I was very surprised by the fact that in this unit, I had few weaknesses. I still don't fully understand the whole antiparallel direction that our DNA goes in and memorizing the structural differences between DNA and RNA will definitely be hard for me. From these experiences, I didn't learn any new skills but I did learn a lot more about us human beings and what goes on inside us so yes I do believe that I'm a better student today than yesterday. I would like to learn more about our brain and how our emotions work. I don't have any unanswered questions about the topic that we've done but I really would like to learn about us mentally. I tend to wonder about what goes on inside our bodies that make us feel the certain emotions we feel and I think it would be interesting to learn about that. Last unit I took the Vark Questionnaire and since visual learning was supposedly one of my strong points, I decided to search up pictures that show the process of Transcription and Translation, since at first I was a bit confused about the processes. Once I had studied the drawings, the processes became a lot more clear and understandable for me, to the point where it became one of my strengths in this unit. I would say it went pretty well and that in the next unit, I'll definitely be doing more of that.

Protein Synthesis Lab

1. The process of making proteins (aka protein synthesis) follows the following steps: The first phase is called Transcription, which is when the copy is made. First, a section of DNA, known as a gene, is copied by an enzyme, then, the copy that's produced, called messenger RNA or mRNA for short, leaves the nucleus and travels to the cytoplasm. The second phase is called Translation, which is when the copy is used to make a protein. First, the ribosome reads the first three bases, called codons, then it determines which amino acid corresponds with that sequence and adds them. When the amino acids are bonded together and the mRNA is done being translated, the amino acid chain folds up to become a protein.

2. The mutations that seemed to have the greatest effect to the proteins are insertions and deletions since they're frameshift mutations, which alters the whole Amino Acid sequence. The mutation that seemed to have the least effect to the proteins is substitution since it only effects one base pair. It does matter where the mutation occurs because there are specific codons that starts the Amino Acid sequence and if the mutation occurs in the beginning then it'll change the whole sequence while if it occurs near the end then it'll only change a small part of the sequence.

3. The mutation that I chose was deletion. I chose this mutation because it's one of the mutations that have the greatest effect to the proteins and I wanted to see how different the code would end up. Compared to other mutations, this mutation has the most effect on the proteins, therefore also the result of the code. The original Amino Acid Sequence was Met-Tyr-Lys-His-Val-Ile-Asn-Cys-Ile but with the deletion of the first G from the DNA strand the Amino Acid Sequence ended up to be Met-Thr-Cys-Asp-Gin-Leu-Tyr-Leu. Again, yes it does matter where the mutation occurs because there are specific codons that start the Amino Acid sequence and if the mutation occurs in the beginning then it'll change the whole sequence while if the mutation occurs near the end then it'll only change a small part of the sequence. In my case, the mutation was at the start so the Amino Acid completely changed.

4. Mutations can affect our life by making us be different, look different, act different, and/or feel differently than others. A example of a mutation is heterochromia iridium, two different-colored eyes within a single individual. This condition is caused by the alteration in the expression of two genes that control eye color: EYCL3, on chromosome 15, which codes for brown/blue eye color, and EYCL1, on chromosome 19, which codes for green/blue eye color.

Human DNA Extraction Lab

The question of this lab was "How can DNA be separated from cheek cells in order to study it?" I found that DNA can be separated from cheek cells, in order to study it, by scraping cheek cells and than mixing the saliva, that contains the cheek cells, with Gatorade, salt, detergent, pineapple juice, and alcohol. Specific evidence that supports my claim is how when the saliva, containing the cheek cells, the gatorade, the salt, the detergent, and the pineapple juice were mixed and topped off separately with the alcohol, there were strand like material, the color of the gatorade, that had risen up to the surface of the alcohol. The strand like material was my DNA. This evidence supports my claim because: in order for DNA to be separated from cheek cells, the cell walls/membranes, plasma membranes, and the nuclear material must first be broken down. This is done by homogenizing the cell tissue with polar liquid. The sodium chloride (salt) was then added to the solution to facilitate the precipitation by shielding the negative phosphate ends of the DNA. Next, in order to lyse the cell membrane and to emulsify the lipids and proteins of the cell, soap was added. Pineapple juice, which contained catabolic proteases, was then added to further break down any histones, type of protein, that the DNA molecule had wrap itself around. When the 95% isopropanol alcohol is layered separately on top of the mixture, the DNA falls out of the solution as a precipitate right at the interface of the two solutions since the alcohol is nonpolar, and the DNA is polar. One error that could've occurred in this experiment is that the procedure that my group and I chose to follow was not the correct procedure. This error could've effected our results by making our DNA not as apparent as it should've been or not apparent at all. Another error that could've occurred in this experiment are students not swishing the Gatorade in their mouth long enough for it to get the cheek cells needed in order to get the DNA. This error could've effected our results by also not making the DNA as apparent as it should be or not apparent at all. Two recommendations that would improve the experimental procedure so that these and other possible errors could be minimized/removed is to really use the information given in the lab as an advantage and to follow directions precisely, especially if it involves time. The purpose of this lab was to see how DNA can be extracted with different solutions, to understand the three basic steps of homogenization, lysis, and precipitation, to see its' appearance. In class, I learned about DNA and its' structure (double helix:2 strands twisted around each other) and this lab helped give me a visual example by its' result being the extraction of my DNA.This lab experiment could be applied to other situations by the chance that if someone ever needs help on extracting their DNA for any certain reason, I would know how to do it and would be able to help them.