Today we had our first quiz (using the bluebooks), talked a little about the importance of molecular biology, and browsed over a brochure called "Genomics and its impact on science and society", put together by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (see me if you didn't get one). The brochure has an interesting bulleted list on page 7 about applications of molecular biology in different fields.
Also, students teamed up in pairs to propose potential topics for their lieterature review paper in some aspect of molecular biology. We went over some of the poropsoed topics and next week I'll meet with each team in my office (preferably during office hours. Make an appointment so you don't have to wait if I am meeting with another team) to go over your potential topics, your motivation for choosing them, your justification, and to select one of them for your paper.
Q&A's for today's quiz:
1. What are the building blocks of a nucleotide?
Phosphate, sugar, and base
2. What are the processes that result in the synthesis of a protein encoded in the DNA?
Transcription and translation
3. How are new genes generated? (a brief generic explanation. No need to list the specific processes)
My modification of a pre-existing gene (e.g. mutation, duplication, segment shuffling, or horizontal transfer)
4. Mention one way in which the function of a gene can be revealed
By studying its sequence and comparing it to previsouly known ones, by studying the effect of mutations, or by knocking-out genes
5. What is a model organism?
An easy to breed, intensively studied genetically, and therefore well known organism. Conclusions from its study can be extrapolated to other organisms (e.g., the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the mouse Mus musculus, or the thale cress Arabidopsis thaliana)
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