Cole Dichrow Biology 30 Oct. 12 3/3

Revewd the ES Test
Finished male reproductive system
worked on questions
Double block.

We fineshed up the male reproductive system. I thought it was interesting how simple this system was. Also i find it very interesting that usually only one sperm will only be developed compared to the many million that are fighting there way to the overies. I have always wondered what has been the most babies born at one time?
The world record for a natural pregnancy (without fertility treatment) is held by an Argentinean woman, who was pregnant with 12 babies.  Unfortunately, the pregnancy was lost before any of the babies were viable.
The official record for the most babies in a pregnancy (although not the most babies in one birth) was set in 1971, when an Italian woman on fertility treatment conceived 15 babies.  None of the 10 girls or 5 boys survived to birth.
http://www.catalogs.com/info/bestof/the-most-babies-in-one-birth-famous-firsts-2

Cole Dichrow

Casie's extra late blog #3 May 19, 3/3

RECAP

• DNA fingerprinting 
• DNA sequencing 
• similarities and differences between each
• DNA ch 20 slideshow outlined learning objectives
• Polymerase Chain Reaction PCR

1. amplification of a segment of DNA resulting in multiple copies
2. animation/videos outlining PCR

• phylogentic tree and genetic variety
• DNA passing from mom only to offspring in cytoplasm of zygote outside the nucleus
• Lab exercise 20.B table 1
• review chapter 20 pg 700 and 705 

THOUGHT

The material we covered today is fairly abstract and so animations that we watched help for us to see what is happening at the molecular level in PCR. It is interesting to find out how our DNA is actually being read and how the codons of DNA are the sequences that differ from person to person. Applications of DNA use show how important and beneficial the genetic code is in the medical world. I feel like this unit is most in depth and therefore is harder to grasp at the concepts. 

EXTRA

DNA sequencing and the HUMAN GENOME PROJECT
These tools include genetic maps, physical maps and DNA sequence - which is a detailed description of the order of the chemical building blocks, or bases, in a given stretch of DNA. Indeed, the monumental achievement of the HGP was its successful sequencing of the entire length of human DNA, also referred to as the human genome.
Scientists need to know the sequence of bases because it tells them the kind of genetic information that is carried in a particular segment of DNA. For example, they can use sequence information to determine which stretches of DNA contain genes, as well as to analyze those genes for changes in sequence, called mutations, that may cause disease.
Although providing a single reference sequence of the human genome is an extraordinary achievement, further advances in sequencing technology are necessary so large amounts of DNA can be manipulated and compared with other genomes quickly and cheaply. Comparing differences among long stretches of DNA - one million bases or more - taken from many individuals should yield an enormous amount of information about the role of inheritance in disease susceptibility, response to environmental influences and even evolution.
The Human Genome Project's (HGP) successful sequencing of the human genome has provided scientists with a virtual blueprint of the human being. However, this accomplishment should be viewed not as an end in itself, but rather as a starting point for even more exciting research. Armed with the human genome sequence, researchers are now trying to unravel some of biology's most complicated processes: how a baby develops from a single cell, how genes coordinate the functions of tissues and organs, how disease predisposition occurs and how the human brain works. http://www.genome.gov/10001177

Kira Beukeboom Blog #3 May 11th 3/3

review of class:
 - Recap on DNA replication
 -Watched an animation on DNA replication
 - did worksheet on DNA replication

Thoughts and opinion on material:
 I think the DNA replication is very cool. the fact that scientists were able to understand how that all works when it happens on such a tiny level is amazing. I think so far it's difficult to understand some of the material and it will be tough to learn it, but once I get the hang of it it'll get easier. the concepts of messenger and transfer RNA is confusing so far. how fast exactly does DNA replicate itself?

Above and beyond:
The Genome of complex eukaryotes is huge and the process of DNA Replication should be incredibly fast. It is amazing that a Chromosome of 250 million pair of bases can be replicated in several hours. The speed of DNA replication for the humans is about 50 nucleotides per second per replication fork (low speed comparing to the speed of the bacterial DNA Replication).But the human Genome can be copied only in a few hours because because many replication forks take place at the some time (multiple initiation sites).

Courtneys Replacment Blog Should be #3

What We Did Today:
~Mendilian Genetics written reponse section
~Chapter 19.1 and 19.2 quiz on thurs
~Started the DNA section
~Movie on Tay Sachs

Thoughts On The Material:
Today was a petty simple day.  We wrote the written reponse and i thought i was simple, but then i realized i forgot alot of stuff so maybe it wasnt so easy.  I still have to wrie the mumltiple choice which i hope goes well.  We watched a little movie about a boy Hayden who has a rare disase called Tay Sachs. I didnt like that at all, i felt so bad for that little boy.  While watching it i started to wondering how it could be only one letter that could affect someone soo greatly?

Above and Beyond:
This website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay-Sachs_disease says that it is an autosomal esive trait.  If only one gene is deformed, or mutated it can cause this.  This gene is located on chromosome 15.  So if that gene is wrong from both parents (since it is ressive) the child will have Tay Sachs. Both parents can carry it if they are heterozygous they can pass it on without having the disease.

Cher's replacement 2nd blog... April 30, 2010

What We Did Today:
~SNOW DAY
~Practice Unit Test

My Thoughts:

Well the buses were cancelled today, but here I am in biology. Today we did a practice unit test on Mendell genetics. I thought that this was very beneficial as it allowed me to know what position I was in regarding my knowledge of genetics. I think that the test showed us what we needed to further explore before the unit test next week. Even though I could be at home I thought that today's class wasnt so bad. I especially enjoyed jamin to the CKUA tunes. I feel that I am all the more prepared and hope that I can achieve a similar mark on the "real thing".

Above & Beyond:

So on our test it was talking in one question how horns in cows are recessive, but this isnt always neccesary true. In Highland cattle horns are dominant (well I was pretty sure of this anyways), so I checked it out to prove my point. At http://www.nwhca.org/highlands.htm I found out that pretty much every single Highland calf born is born with horns.... just thought this was kind of interesting.

Sarah Milewicz, Blog 3, Tuesday April 20, 2010, 3/3

What we did in Class

• Wrote our Mitosis & Meiosis Unit Exam

Thoughts About the Material

• We just learned about Punnet Squares and they are pretty easy to use when looking for what kind off offspring two certain organisms breed.  I think they're really useful and I thought it was cool that for Mendel's F1 generation for a monohybrid cross there was always a 3:1 ratio for the offspring and for a dihybrid cross it was always 9:3:3:1.  It's interesting that he actually took the time to figure those things out (his life must have been pretty boring). 

Above and Beyond

• In class today (April 22) we learned about lethal alleles and i was wondering how they actually occurred in the first place.  I went the the website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethal_alleles but i didn't find out why they occurred.  I did find out that most lethal genes are recessive and recessive lethal alleles don't cause death in the heterozygous form because a certain threshold of protein output is maintained. In the homozygous form, the protein output doesn't meet that threshold and because of that, the organism dies.  I found some other examples of lethal alleles and they are cystic fibrosis and brachydactyly.  Cystic fibrosis is referred as the characteristic scarring and cyst formation within the pancreas, which causes progressive disability and often early death.  Brachydactyly literally means "shortening of the fingers and toes."  The shortness is related to the length of other long bones and other parts of the body.

Carrie Kibblewhite, Blog #3, April 19 2010, 3/3

What We Did Today...

- Punnett Squares
- Finished the simple worksheet
- Dihybrid Crosses

Thoughts About The Material...

I think the punnett squares are weird and kind of confusing, just doing the dihybrid crosses for simple genes. That got me wondering how complex a punnett square would be for trying to figure out the phynotype or genotype of a human, because we have so many complex traits, unlike the pea plants that had green or yellow seeds, human have many different characteristics.

Above and Beyond...

I followed this link http://faculty.clintoncc.suny.edu/faculty/Michael.Gregory/files/Bio%20101/Bio%20101%20Lectures/genetics-%20genes/Image1.gif 
and didn't quite find an answer to my question but I did find a picture of what a trihybrid cross would look like, and it seems pretty complicated so it gives you an idea of just how complicated a human punnett square would be.
(I tried posting the picture but my computer wouldn't let me, sorry)