Jolyn's Blog for Hotdawgs

This unit was titled "Walking the Dogma", which refers to the central dogma. The central dogma shows the process of DNA changing into mRNA to protein. First, we talked about the general idea of our genetic code, DNA. It is a double helix and is made of nucleotides, which one is made up of a nitrogen base, a phosphate group, and a sugar. Nitrogen bases come in two types: purines (adenine and guanine) and pyrimidines (thymine and cytosine). DNA has to copy itself and reproduce another in order for both cells to be identical during the cell cycle. To do so, it unzips and matches itself with another nucleotides. It results in two identical strands. We move on to the main event: central dogma. The DNA is transcribed in the nucleus and is read by the RNA polymerase. Like in the process before the cell cycle, the DNA unzips. After, RNA polymerase matches the remaining nucleotides to others to make RNA strands. The next step is translation, changing the RNA into amino acids. The mRNA...

To create a protein , there are two main steps: transcription and translation. During transcription, the DNA code, the gene, gets copied in the nucleus, which is know as the messenger RNA (mRNA). This changes the pyrimidine, thymine, to uracil. The product travels to the cytoplasm. The next step is translation, which uses the copy to make a protein. The ribosome reads the mRNA three bases at a time and turns it into an amino acid sequence , or a codon. It results in a long chain of amino acids, which twist and folds up to become a protein. When making a protein, there's a lot that could go wrong, maybe a mutation . A mutation is a change in the gene. There are a few types of mutations, such as point mutation. Under that category, there are two types of point mutations: substitution and frameshift mutation (which also has two types of mutations: insertion and deletion ). When a mutation is added into the sequence, it could either harmless or very harmful. I thought that del...

In this disgusting lab, we asked the question, "How can DNA be separated from cheek cells in order to study it". We concluded that if we wanted to separate DNA from our rosy cheeks, we'd have to do a number of steps. Three steps, to be exact. Those steps would be homogenization , lysis , and precipitation . To achieve homogenization, we used Gatorade to break down the cell tissue. Because of Gatorade's polarity , we could use it. Gatorade has electrolytes, like sodium and potassium, that athletes sweat out during physical activity. We took a shot of Gatorade and swished it in out mouths, hoping to gain the cheek cells needed. After, we spitted it back into a cup. The next step was lysis. We added salt and detergent into the mix, to emulsify the proteins and lipids of the cell. Next, was the protease solution: pineapple juice (tempted to make a pen-pineapple-apple-pen joke). The pineapple juice is a catabolic protease, which is to break down the histones further. M...

In this unit, we talked about sex. Not that type of sex, but reproduction! Recently we done a coin sex lab to simulate the process of meiosis and reproduction. The coins had a dominant and recessive, heterozygous, trait or the same allele, homozygous, on the front and back of the coin. Then you and your partner would flip it and see what "your child" would have, whether it was to determine if it was a boy or girl, or if it had bipolar disorder. In the dihybrid cross simulation, there were varieties of traits. It had 16 different genotypes, unlike the monohybrid, where there were 4 genotypes. The limit of using probability to predict our offsring's traits was was limited. It could help you find the average for the traits, but the probability will not be correct all the time. I was just a way to compare to the punnett squares that we had developed. By understanding this concept, I understand the concept of genes and recombination. In life, I will potentially have a child th...

Enjoy my infographic of genetics!

We were given a fictional debate about the different types of reproduction. The author, Olivia Judson, presents herself as a TV talk show host, interviewing an asexual, single cell, a bdelloid rotifer. She argues that asexual is the better way to live. Asexual species reproduce by cloning/ bacteria fission, budding, regeneration, and vegetation propagation. Benefits of asexual reproduction are the short amount of time it takes, how easy it is, can be a single parent, and can produce lots of offspring. "All else being equal, an asexual female who appears in a population should have twice as many offspring as her sexual counterparts" (Judson 215). Sexual reproduction, on the other hand, use broadcast spawning, paired spawning, spores, seeds, and (most commonly) copulation. This way, it creates genetic variation, allows survival rate to increase, and ensures the "best" pass in their genes. It requires lots of energy and time, exposes parasites/STDs, creates ad genetic ...

In this unit, the overall topic was the cell. From the last unit, we learned about macromolecules. Now, we applied them as how they serve as building blocks of cells. Part of the unit described the structure and functions of the membrane. Another area is diffusion and osmosis, which is the diffusion of water. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration were two points important in plants and cells. Lastly, the functions and organelles in a cell. My strengths include diffusion and osmosis. I feel like I understand the isotonic and such concepts very well. The weakness in this unit were the functions of organelles in the cell. It seems very hard for me to remember the organelles and its functions. the topics I successfully understood were the understanding of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. The diagram of photosynthesis really furthered my learning. A big setback was the comprehension of the history of the cell and microscopes. Not being able to remember the dates and people of th...

In this lab, we tried to identified the key features of autotrophs, heterotrophs, prokaryotes, eukaryotes and Protists. By recognizing the organisms in each cell, we came to the conclusion of the characteristics. We placed each cell slide in the microscope's stage and tested each power, from 40X to 400X. At the end of each examination, we took a photo that you see below. After, we wrote our observations of the specimen and determined if it was an eukaryote or prokaryote, and autotrophic or heterotrophic. The characteristics of the autotrophs were plants cells that made their own food. They contained chloroplast and other organelles that are found in plant cells. Next, characteristic in heterotrophs were animal cells and such. They depend on others to provide for their food/energy. Eukaryote characteristics are specimen that contain one or more nucleus. On the other hand, prokaryotes do not contain a nucleus.  Animal Cell: Skeletal Muscle Tissue Organelles identifies: Muscle Fi...

In this egg-citing lab, we asked why and how does a cell's internal environment change, as it's external environment changes. After soaking two eggs in white vinegar for a few days, we take the dissolved- membrane eggs and place them in new "environments", sugar water and deionized water. 48 hours later and we observed what changes had happened. In the negative control, or the deionzed water, the egg had expanded in both circumference and mass. In the sugar water, the egg was deflated, dented, shrunk almost 50% of its mass. The cell's internal environment changes, while the external changes, to create balance throughout the entire cell. This is diffusion , moving from areas of h igh concentration to low concentration until they reach equilibrium. Being submerged into a solution, the ability of the solution is to cause a cell to gain or lose water. The definition of hypertonic is when there is more solute outside the cell, or in this case the egg. To ma...

In this lab, we asked "can macromolecules be identified in an egg cell?" We found that we can identify macromolecules in an egg with the right solution to test it. For the egg membrane, we found lipids present from the color change, after submerging the egg into the Sudan III and water solution. The solution, originally bright red, changed to a medium red-ish orange. Lipids make up the membrane and stores energy. The egg white contained traces of protein when it showed the color change from blue to a dark purple, due to the added sodium hydroxide and copper sulfate. The cell produces the structural protein to feed the growing chick inside the egg. It also serves as protection. Lastly, there was polysaccharides in the egg yolk. With the help of another group's data, we concluded that the chestnut brown solution, iodine, changed to a blackish color. It stores energy for the cell, or the developing chick. This lab had many issues and errors to it. For one, our monosacchari...

This unit was about the essential knowledge in chemistry. From learning about atoms to enzymes, we have learned about their functions and structures. One of the main points we touched upon was the big four macromolecules: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. Carbohydrates are saccharides, also commonly known as sugar, that are made of rings of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. It's used as energy storage for producers and a main source of energy for consumers. Lipids are molecules that have fat, phospholipids, oils, waves and cholesterol. They contain chains of fatty acids, carbon and hydrogen, and are nonpolar. It's also used as energy storage, but also makes up cell membranes and used to make hormones. Protein is large molecules made of amino acids chained together. This can support the body, speed up chemical reactions, help cells communicate, and let things through the cell membrane. One type of protein is enzymes. Enzymes are amino acids chained together, which ...

We tried to answered how does the structure of a carbohydrates affect its taste (sweetness). The structures include monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides. I think that the less rings the sugar has, the more sweetness it has. That would mean that monosaccharides would be the sweetest carbohydrate and polysaccharides would not be sweet to eat. Our group had hypothesized that sucrose, glucose, fructose, and lactose would taste sweet, while galactose, maltose, starch, and cellulose would not taste sweet. We tried the different types of carbohydrates and I concluded that starch and cellulose were polysaccharides due to its unpleasant taste. Then we tried fructose, which was cloyingly sweet. From this evidence, monosaccharides are the sweetest, disaccharides would rank number two, and leaving polysaccharides in last place regarding sweetest. As I stated, the less rings the sugar has, the sweeter it would taste. The more rings these carbohydrates have means that it would be mo...

Our experiment had a normal result. In this lab, we asked the question, "What concentration of bleach is best to fade the color out of the new denim material in 10 minutes without visible damage to the fabric?" We found that the best concentration is 50% concentrate. The amounts of color removal was decreasing with the amount of concentration. We did have an issue with the fabric damage. The average should have a smooth decrease, but there was a hiccup from 100% to 50%. Like stated before, there should have been a smooth decrease, but instead there was a hiccup in the average. The 50% concentration had worse fabric damage than 100%. There were holes in the fabric that might have been due to the bleach. In future experiments, I would recommend to have even pieces of fabric that had no damage in the beginning to avoid the problem of having the fabric damage data impacted. This lab was done to demonstrate the best amount of bleach used in jeans without visible damage to the ...