Weekly Blog 1/15/16 - Genetic Manupulation

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Summary

A common technique in genetic engineering is to insert a new gene into a plasmid. A plasmid is a loop of bacterial DNA. First, the loop of DNA is cut with a restriction enzyme such as EcoR1. As it runs along the groove of the double helix, it scans for the base letter sequence GAATC. Once it finds it, at that exact point the enzyme cuts the loop of DNA leaving the ends of the loop sticky to allow the new strand of DNA to more easily be inserted. This allows a new piece of DNA to be inserted. After the new strand of DNA gets inserted, the joins are stitched together by another enzyme called DNA ligase. Once you finish all these steps you now have a loop of genetically modified bacteria.

S&P 2: Developing and Using Models

On Monday, I developed a model of my superhero's child epigenetic results which I got from flipping a coin the week before. To represent the sickness that my superhero's child ended up with (breast cancer, other cancers and inefficient and malformed organs), I drew a drawing of her in a hospital bed, bald, with an iv attached as well as with a ventilator. By drawing the outcome of the epigenetics, I was able to use the model to compare the two drawings of my superhero's child, one of a healthy child and one of what actually happened to her.

XCC: Cause and Effect

Modifying someone's genes can have many different effects. For example, if you insert a new string of DNA into the DNA of a type fruit, the effect will be that the fruit will change based on what type of new DNA you put into the fruit or what you took out. Farmers use genetically modified seeds to grow a modified kind of plant or plants that don't get affected by pesticides. In the case of my superhero, her and her partner used human DNA and the DNA of a Lyrebird to grow \modified vocal organs with a higher vocal range giving her "superpowers" once surgically put into her. The cause (altering human DNA with the DNA of an animal) ended up with the effect of a sort of cross between the two (organs for humans with amazing animal like capabilities).