Week 9 – Genetics

 

Cover Page Image by Letunic (2008). “A phylogenetic tree of life, showing the relationship between species whose genomes had been sequenced as of 2006. The very center represents the last universal ancestor of all life on earth. The different colors represent the three domains of life: pink represents eukaryota (animals, plants and fungi); blue/purple/grey represents bacteria; and green represents archaea. Note the presence of Homo sapiens (humans) second from the rightmost edge of the pink segment. The light and dark bands along the outer edge (circumference) correspond to clades: the rightmost light red band is Metazoa, with dark red Ascomycota to its left, and light blue/purple/grey Firmicutes to its right.” (Ivica Letunic: Retraced by Mariana Ruiz Villarreal: LadyofHats, Tree of life SVG, marked as public domain, more details on Wikimedia Commons)

 

This module was designed in collaboration with Dr. Kim Dej (School of Interdisciplinary Science) and Mr. Ryan Belowitz (School of Interdisciplinary Science). It has been adapted by Dr. Ana Tomljenovic-Berube (lead), Mr. Ryan Belowitz and Ms. Noella Noronha (2020).

Module Overview

In this Genetics Module, we will investigate how model organisms can be used to identify and study genes that impact aging, and introduce you to the field of bioinformatics (using computational methods to gain insight into biology through the analysis of biological data). The lecture will introduce you to the bioinformatics tools that are used by researchers to identify and understand how these genes impact aging.  In the lab, you will be assigned an age-related gene from a model organism. You will use online databases and bioinformatics tools that are freely available to research your gene and model organism, obtain the protein sequence of your assigned gene, identify homologous protein sequences in other organisms, and construct a protein sequence alignment. The TA will be available to assist and answer questions. In the tutorial, you will complete a case study investigating the big impacts that small variations in genetic sequences can have.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, students should be able to:

  1. Recall relationships between gene/protein structure and function.
  2. Use the BLAST tool and other electronic databases to obtain gene/protein sequences.
  3. Compare protein sequences with other homologous sequences using Clustal Omega to identify the presence or lack of conserved sequences.
  4. Interpret and infer how genes and their respective mutations affect organism longevity.

Missed work

If you miss the lab, tutorial or any work associated with this module, here are the details on accommodations.

License

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LIFESCI 2L03: Living Systems Laboratory Course Pack (5th Edition) Copyright © by Ryan Belowitz; Ana Tomljenovic-Berube; and Devon Jones is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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