Unit 5 Reflection

This unit was about DNA, and how proteins are formed. This is a very complicated process, and occurs very fast in our cells. It is important to understand how everything works. You originally have a strand of DNA in the nucleus. Then DNA Polymerase copies that DNA, and creates RNA. This mRNA leaves the nucleus, and heads for the ribosomes. Once it reaches the ribosomes, it goes through the RNA's instructions on how to build a protein. Once it has gone through the instructions, a protein is formed! My greatest weakness is vocabulary. I always struggle memorizing vocabulary, and also some of the more deep concepts. On the other hand, I am good at understanding how all the processes work. I also don't have trouble remembering what is actually going on in the cell. From this unit, I basically learned how I am alive. People need proteins to survive, and this is the process that explains how proteins are built. The infographic really helped me understand all the main ideas because building it was reviewing the content. I defiantly am happy I worked hard on my infographic because it helped me grasp all the ideas that the newer course material builds on. I defiantly think i am a better student today because of my further biology knowledge. I do have a question that I would like to learn more about. How does that RNA reading factory in the ribosomes work. It looks really interesting because of how all the pieces move around. I have tried to study with a bunch of different styles because I am a multimodal learner. This has proven good and bad. To study with many different types of studying (Visual, Written, etc) it requires much more time. I defiantly need to put aside much more time to study.

http://faculty.utpa.edu/lmateron/3401/mainimages/protein_synthesis.gif

http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/053/587/i02/dna-rna-structure.jpg?1370549225

Protein Synthesis Lab

A protein is made through a very complicated process. First of all, the DNA gets copied, and that copy is called an RNA. The mRNA then leaves the nucleus, and heads over to the cytoplasm. The mRNA specifically goes to the ribosomes, the ribosomes reads groups of three bases. These groups of three bases are called sequences. Then DNA Polymerase goes around determining the proper amino acid for the codon. Once the process is finished, it all folds up to become a protein!

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Ribosome_mRNA_translation_en.svg/2000px-Ribosome_mRNA_translation_en.svg.png

When you think about buying things, you always have that chance of getting a factory defect. That is why many companies have warranties, so they fix a defective product! This happens with making proteins too, but it is actually called a mutation. The three different types of mutations are insertion, deletion, and substitution. It seems as though substitution is the least effective mutation because it only affects one sequence. Remember that a sequence is a combination of three base letters. Deletion and insertion can be huge problems to the protein, especially if they are at the start of the RNA/DNA strand.

https://www.biostat.wisc.edu/~kendzior/MADGiC/dna-mutation-graphic.jpg

For the mutation of my choice, I used substitution. I chose substitution because I knew that it wouldn't greatly affect the DNA strand. It only changed one sequence, and it wouldn't make a difference where the mutation was located.

http://image.ohmynews.com/down/images/1/todd_231510_1[323095].gif

Proteins are essential to life, so it isn't optimal to have a mutation. A mutation could make oxygen travel in much less quantities in your blood. There are also mutations that stop the blood from clotting very easily. Blood needs to clot in order to stop bleeding, so bruises can be a very bad thing. I looked at a mutation that was the complete opposite of this, and it is called Thrombophilia. This is when the blood has an increased tendency to clot. Blood clots in your veins are very dangerous. My Mom actually had one, and it isn't anything to mess around with. A blood clot in your veins can travel around your body. It can go to your lungs, brain, or heart. There is an extremely high risk of a person dying if a blood clot gets lodged in any of these places.

http://www.qmedicine.co.in/top%20health%20topics/T/images/demo/thrombophilia.jpg

The picture above shows a blood clot in a vein. It is easy for one of these clots to get stuck. It is very dangerous, and doctors usually keep people on blood thinners to try to stop the clot from getting stuck.

DNA Extraction Lab Analysis

DNA Extraction Lab Analysis               

               In this lab, we asked the question if DNA could be separated from cheek cells, and when we would be able to see the DNA. We were able to see the DNA from our cheek cells, and mixing certain ingredients in order made this possible. We needed to swish our mouths with gatorade, and rub our teeth on our cheeks. The cheek cells come off because that is the type of cell they are. They are similar to our skin. Once we mixed our ingredients (salt, detergent, isopropanol alcohol), The bubbles from the alcohol made pulled the strands of DNA up to the top of the solution. The bubbles from the alcohol supports my claim because the DNA wouldn't be visible if the bubbles didn't pull it into the layer of alcohol. One error we initially did was incorrectly do the steps. We forgot to mix everything in the test tube. This could have made less DNA come to the surface. I also used too much gatorade the second time I tried the experiment, so it was much harder to see any of the DNA. First off, I recommend you make a check list with all the steps. It is extremely helpful to visually have your steps because it is so easy to just miss one. Also, take it slow! If you rush through the experiment you are likely to make a mistake. This lab was designed to give us the opportunity to understand how much DNA is actually in the cells. There is also a further meaning to this lab. This really explains how the cell membranes work! The only reason that we were able to see the DNA is because the ingredients basically dissolved the cell membranes. This allowed all the contents of the cell to be released. This is why the DNA was floating around. The DNA didn't become solid until it was introduced into the alcohol though. I defiantly think this relates to how much DNA is stored in the cell. It is also related to cell membranes containing all the contents of the cell. Cells wouldn't be around if there wasn't a membrane holding everything together. It is quite difficult to think of how the information of this lab could be used in another context. It defiantly could be used to extract DNA from fruit, and that could be pretty cool! You also challenge yourself to see what you can extract DNA out of. Is it possible to extract DNA out of an apple because the hard, crunchy membrane? That would be a pretty interesting test!

I don't have a picture of my extraction, but I did find a pretty cool picture of what the DNA might look like. Check it out!

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/DNA_purification.jpg