GENETIC ANALYSIS + GENETIC ENGINEERING CH 8 Flashcards
What are some examples of practical applications of modern genetic technologies
- Help solve crimes
- Determine the cause of genetic illnesses
- Treat/cure genetic illness
How does heating and cooling affect DNA
Heating - strands separate at the hydrogen bonds at temperatures just below boiling
Cooling - complimentary nucleotide bases will regain hydrogen bonds and come together as temperatures lower
Explain how restriction endonucleases works. How can we use this?
It is an enzyme inside DNA that cuts at specific palindromic sequences (can be read the same forward and backwards).
This enzyme allows us to cut DNA out of one organism and insert it in another
What is CRISPR;
What does it stand for and how does it work? What is it commonly used for?
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats.
This enzyme recognizes and cuts out foreign DNA (foreign DNA is chosen by what the scientist wants to cut out) + is replaced with a diferent letter.
Commonly used to treat monogenic disorders like sickle cell anemia
Describe the process in how gel electrophoresis is used to analyze DNA
1 - Restriction Endonucleases cuts DNA at specific sites (everyone has different lenghs between different sites)
2 - The DNA is negatively charged and insterted as it runs down to the bottom, positve end of the gel
3 - Bigger pieces of DNA take longer to run because they get stuck in the gel
4 - The DNA is separated by size and is compared to the known ladder
What determines the size of DNA fragments
The number of base pairs (bp) they contain
What is PCR;
What does it stand for? How does it work? What is it commonly used for? What is a disadvantage of this technique?
Polymerase Chain Reaction
- DENATURATION: Raise the temp to denature and separate strands of DNA
- ANNEALING: Lowering heat to add RNA primers
- ELONGATION: Uses a modified, thermophilic DNA polymerase called TAQ Polymerase that synthesizes the new strand.
This is done to create large amounts of DNA in a short period of time. This allows us to detect cancer from a single cell or diagnose an infection from a single gene copy
Works best on DNA so we have to use revere transcriptase to use it on RNA (now DNA)
What is real time PCR and why is it important?
It requires much less time and allows researchers to detect products DURING the reaction instead of AFTER
What are some common applications of PCR (identify four)
- Gene Mapping
- Study of Genetic Defects or Cancer
- Forensics
- Diagnosis of Infectious Disease
- Taxonomy Studies
How is recombinant DNA created? And how does purification play a role in this process?
Restriction endonuclease cuts and removes dna of interest from a human cell
The same restriction endonuclease cuts plasmid dna open and the sticky ends of both DNA are stuck together.
This is insterted back into the bacterial cell.
The cell will take DNA to form and mRNA to form protein. This protein can be purified and also removes other bacterial stuff out
T/F: PCR uses specialized DNA Polymerase adapted to high temperatures
TRUE; it is called TAQ Polymerase
What is the name of the enzyme that cuts DNA into smaller pieces
Restriction Endonucleases
Why is recombinant DNA technology important?
We use DNA recombination to create natural gene products by synthesizing proteins to help treat things like arthritis, cancer, or diabetes
Provide two examples of recombinant products that have contributed to human health
Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) - is a protein that is produced or supplemented when the cell grows too fast; this kills the cell and protects our body from possible tumors
We can give this to cancer patients and stimulates the process of killing tumors
Remicade and Humira work by blocking TNF to treat autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis through stopping inflammation
T/F: Recombinant DNA technology is a GMO process
True; we are altering and modifying genes to create better byproducts for humans. We are not using it for unethical reasons
