Unit 8 Reflection

Hunger Games Lab

   In this unit we learned about how over time artificial and natural selection cause evolution, and also how this evolution is shown and how it can be proven. In the Change, It's all natural and Very Gradual Change you can believe in vodcasts we learned how both natural and artificial selection over time cause a population to evolve. The swimming in the gene pool vodcast explained how this evolution happens over time more statistically by showing allele frequencies and population numbers. We later simulated this process in the hunger games lab in which natural selection played on a population causing the population to have a higher allele frequency of the allele that resulted in a beneficial phenotype. The speciation vodcast explained how a species splits into 2 different species because of behavioral, geographic, or temporal reasons. Evidence for evolution can be shown in embryology, vestigial structures (evolutionary left overs like the human tailbone), Fossils, homologous structures (same structure of bones but different function), or in analogous structures which is the opposite of homologous structures. And finally the origin of life vodcast the possible theories for how life first formed are explained.

    I would like to learn more about the causes and effects of evolution over time and the specific species that where created and how they came to be. This unit was very full of information and left me with no unanswered questions. I wonder about what species existed on earth before and later when extinct and how some of their traits are shown in our modern species.

    In the Unit 7 Reflection I reflected on the topic of being assertive. We watched a video and did a survey on how assertive I am. Most of the points I got on the survey showed that I was assertive. Over this unit I have kept being assertive and helpful in our timeline project.

Hunger Games Lab

1. In this lab we simulated natural selection by having three prototypes: Stumpys, Knucklers, and Pinchers. Stumpys could pick up food with their wrists, Knucklers could pick up food with their knuckles, and Pinchers could pinch the food to pick it up. The Stumpys where homozyguous dominant, the Knucklers where heterozyguous, and the Pichers where homozyguous recessive. In each round the organisms would fight over corks which would be food. The organisms that got enough food to survive would reproduce and create another organism with a phenotype determined by each mating organism flipping a coin with their alleles on each side. Then we would repeat this process 8 times.
2. The Pincher phenotype was the most effective at capturing food because it could get the best grip on the corks.
3. The population evolved because over time more of the other phenotypes died out while the pincher phenotype survived and grew. This is known because over time the knuckler and stumpy populations decreased while the pincher population grew. This is shown in the data where the allele frequency goes from around 50-50 to about 75-25 and 75 being the "a" allele which makes up the picher's homozyguous genotype. 
   
4. This lab was in some ways random because the mating choices are random and also some of the less advantageous organisms could have still survived by being very aggressive.
5. If the food was smaller it would benefit the pincher phenotype even more, and if the food was larger it would benefit the knuckler and stumpy phenotypes more. Over time this would make the A allele more common and the a allele less common.
6. If there was not incomplete dominance this would cause there to be many more Stumpys because they had the dominant allele. However over time the Pinchers would start to take over the population, however they would have to only mate with other Pinchers to make the process faster.
7. Natural Selection causes evolution because natural selection will kill of the bad phenotypes and only the beneficial phenotypes would live to reproduce, this over time would cause there to be more of the phenotypes beneficial to survival to exist in a population. This is evolution.
8. The stumpy population after almost dieing out completely decided to work together and keep the population strong. This occurs in nature when organisms with less beneficial genotypes will work together in a herd.
9. In evolution a population evolves over time, not an individual organism. Natural selection most directly acts on phenotypes for survival. However the corrosponding genotype for the phenotype will be passed on to the offspring. And that offspring's chance of surving to reproduce will be determined by it's phenotype which is determined by the genotype it got from it's parent.
10. The one question that I still have would be why the populations of the different phenotypes first follow directional selection in the first half but then in the second half it seems to follow disruptive selection more?

Unit 7 Reflection

   This unit was about Ecology and how it effects us and how we effect ecology. In the Food Chain vodcast we learned how food chains and food webs transfer energy from organism to organism in an ecosystem. The ecosystem energy vodcast taught us how in energy pyramids the amount of calories in each tropic level decreases by 10 times as it gets higher. This is important because it shows how wasteful it is to eat animals on higher tropic levels. In the population ecology vodcast we learned how certain populations grow exponentially and others grow logistically when they get closer to the carrying capacity. The human population is growing at very high rates and is expected to reach carrying capacity soon.

   I want to learn more about ecology in the future and how plant and animal populations are dependent on each other in an ecosystem. I have no unanswered questions because the vodcasts explained everything I needed to know.
  The Conservation biology project went well and there was no problems with the collaboration. The one problem we did have was that while we where filming a series of things happened that unfortunately made the audio quality poor. Firstly, near the beginning there where some construction sounds, and halfway through the video one of the classroom doors nearby was opened creating more sound. These problems would have been avoidable if we could do another recording of the project, however I had to go to jazz band photos during tutorial so we couldn't work on it then. However the group collaboration was fine and I think our slides where great. In the self assessment we did at the end of the unit I got the most points in assertive which is good.

Unit 6 Reflection

   In this unit we learned what biotech was and how it is applied for use in biotechnology. The candy electrophoresis lab demonstrated how gel electrophoresis is used to sort DNA strands by their lengths by using the dyes in candy. Later in the pGLO lab I learned how to use plasmids to transform the bacteria E. coli to glow under UV light. In this unit I learned many things about biotechnology and how it is applied to real life. Although most of the dyes ran off the gel in the candy electrophoresis lab due to a school assembly, in the pGLO lab our E. coli was successful in taking in the plasmid and glowing.
 
   In the candy electrophoresis lab we extracted the dyes from the candies and then used a centrifuge to concentrate the dye. After that we placed the dyes into the slots and compared how far each band traveled. Unfortunately, an assembly started when we where running the gel and once we got back the dyes had run off the gel! There where 2 blue strands still remaining on the gel so I observed these strands.

In the pGLO lab we got E. coli to take in a plasmid that would make it create glowing proteins. First we dissolved a E. coli colony each into 2 different vials, one containing the plasmid that would make the cell make glowing proteins and one without. The vials where then cooled then heated then cooled again. Eventually the solution was spread out onto 4 separate petri dishes. The petri dish that had the E. coli in the broth, ampicillin, and arabinose glowed when placed under an ultra violet light.

I want to learn more about biotechnology and it's applications in the future. I understand all the topics in the vodcast and how all the experiments worked in the labs. However I wonder what the results of the candy electrophoresis lab would have been like had the experiment not failed. As far as my New Year's goals go, I am currently on track.  My notebook is nice and organized and I have made sure that I understand each topic.

pGLO Lab

pGLO Observations , Data Recording & Analysis

1.

Obtain your team plates.  Observe your set of  “+pGLO” plates under room light and with UV light.  Record numbers of colonies and color of colonies. Fill in the table below. Plate Number of Colonies Color of colonies under room light Color of colonies under   UV light - pGLO LB 76 76 0 - pGLO LB/amp 0 0 0 + pGLO LB/amp 0 0 0 + pGLO LB/amp/ara 13 13 13

2.	What two new traits do your transformed bacteria have?
	The transformed bacteria have the 2 new traits of glowing under UV light and ampicillin resistance.
3.	Estimate how many bacteria were in the 100 uL of bacteria that you spread on each plate. Explain your logic.
	I estimate that the amount of bacteria inside the 100 uL was roughly the same amount as the amount of colonies there where. This would be because once a bacteria landed on a certain spot it would multiply exponentially and create an entire colony.
4.	What is the role of arabinose in the plates?
	The role of arabinose was to create a nutrient rich environment for the glowing bacteria so it could have all the nutrients needed for a bright glow.
5.	List and briefly explain three current uses for GFP (green fluorescent protein) in research or applied science.
	Tagging certain genes so their expression in certain cells will be known. Acting as a biosensor or cell marker when studying protein-protein interactions. visualizing promoter activity.
6.	Give an example of another application of genetic engineering. Other kinds of plasmids could be used to change certain genes and gene expressions in order to make organisms that produce certain kinds of proteins that can have benefits to health or sustainability. For example a plasmid could be used in bacteria to create a foe meat or other kind of food.

Candy Electrophoresis Lab

The results of our experiment.

In our experiment there where no dyes that had visibility have different lengths than the reference dye. This might be because there was only 2 blue dye bands that where observed because the rest ran off. Our dyes ran off because we had to go to an hour long assembly while the electrophoresis was only supposed to run for only 15 minutes.

Electrophoresis system before running current.

The dyes that where observed where blue colored and since they where the only ones on the gel after the current being applied for about an hour they where very slow. These blue dyes would likely be either Carminic acid or Betanin since they have long molecules.

Manufacturers put food coloring in dog food because the colorful treats look better to the owners who buy them. Also since there are likely less restrictions about food coloring in dog food manufacturers would be allowed to use cheaper but more unhealthy food coloring.

The distance the colored dye solutions migrate could be determined by the length of the dye molecule, the amount of time it is running, and the voltage of the electrolysis machine.

Centrifuge used to concentrate dye solution.

The force that moves the dyed through the electrolysis machine is the electricity. When the molecules in the dye get charged they are pulled through the pores in the gel by an electrical attraction to the other side.

The electrophoresis system separates  molecules by size because the smaller molecules move much faster through the gel than the larger molecules. So in the end the bands that traveled farther are the smaller molecules and the ones that traveled less are the larger molecules.

Candy the dye came from.

If DNA molecules have molecular weights of 600, 1,000, 2,000, and 5,000 Dalton, the 600 Dalton molecule would travel the farthest. In second would be the 1,000 Dalton molecule. Third fastest would be the 2,000 Dalton molecule. And the slowest molecule would be the one that is 5,000 Dalton.

New Year Goals

   In this new year I will put more effort into this class. This will be done by first studying at least an hour or two longer for the tests in biology. Making sure that my notebook is always completed and organised not only to the amount needed to get a 100 on the notebook check, but more. Even if it wouldn't change my grade it would still add to the organisation and make things easier to find when studying. In labs I will spend time giving more complete and detailed analysis. If I accomplish this the accomplishment of this alone is enough of a reward for the needed motivation.

   Also in English class I will also put more effort into the assignments. On the projects I will spend more time perfecting them and find more collaborative group members. I will make sure that the product of the project is to the best of my ability. On tests I will study for at least an hour longer and use study tools like flashcards to help me learn the concepts. If I complete all of these I should be able to not only increase my grade but feel more confident in my school work.