Team+Illuminate

flat =Members= JessamynM KimberlyB = = =DNA Extraction From Human Cheek Cells= =DNA Replication Model = media type="custom" key="12485218" =New DNA Summary= For the offspring of two parents to get DNA it must duplicate so it gets genes from its mom and from its dad. To start the replication process the helicase binds and breaks apart the hydrogen bonds which makes two strands called the leading and lagging strands. Then the single stranded binding proteins attach so the strands don’t join back together. Then on the leading strand the primase attaches and gives a starting point for the replication, which runs from 5 to 3. Then last the polymerase binds and replicates the DNA. For the lagging strand however instead of the strands running from 5 to 3 it runs from 3 to 5. Because of this it has to use okazaki fragments. The okazaki fragments then allow the process to wait until the strands to open up while the ligase joins the okazaki strands so that it can make a full strand by replication. That is how DNA replication process works. But there is a limit to how much one can replicate. One cell can replicate only around fifty times because of the telomere. The telomeres are a sequence of similar nucleotides at the end of the DNA strand. When DNA replicates the telomere is cut and it can become to short if to many replications take place. You age as your cells age and stop replicating as much. What can mess this up, however, is telomerase. Telomerase is the enzyme that creates the telomeres. IF they are activated the cell will never die. This is how cancer happens. Cells are supposed to stop replicating and die so not too many of each cell are alive and replicating at one time. With the telomerase activated the cell won’t die and the cells like that will gather and build up into tumors. That is how cancer gets started. Another possibility of how you get your cells is through transplanting. Cell transplantation is when you take healthy cells from one thing and put them in something else’s body. This is risky and things can go wrong if the body rejects the cells or they cause complications within the body. It is usually reserved for major illnesses or lab animals. That is not the only way either. They can also clone something by putting its DNA is a egg cell which will make you //genetically// the same but that doesn’t mean that you will have the same attitude or looks. One example is Rainbow at a Texas lab who was cloned. The new cloned kittens name is CC and even though they have the same DNA they look different and CC is more playful than Rainbow. The End! =DNA Transcription and Translation Flipbook= media type="custom" key="12657674" =Genetics Infographic= Photos also made and taken by Kimberly Belisky
 * 1) What are the 5 elements that make up DNA? Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorous.
 * 2) What is the function of DNA from day to day? To direct the functioning within the cells of your body.
 * 3) Describe how long strands of double-helical DNA fit into the nucleus of a single cheek cell. They wrap around a protein to form chromosomes.
 * 4) What was the purpose of using the cell lysis solution? It allows the DNA to be freed.
 * 5) Why does the DNA become visible once the alcohol is added? It is less soluble in water so if added slowly the DNA will precipitate to sports drink/ alcohol interface.
 * 6) If DNA is so thin, how is it that we are able to see it during this simple lab exercise? It will clump together and precipitate to the sports drink/alcohol interface.
 * 7) Why is DNA referred to as your genetic fingerprint? Because it is like no one else’s in the world.
 * 8) Give some examples of how DNA is used everyday. Cops to find who was there and who set devices or touched something use it. Scientists to try to find cures for diseases use it. Doctors to find out if you are at risk for certain diseases use it. To tell one person from another if they cannot tell by looking at them.
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= Genetics Infographic 2 = =Medaka Story=

=Diaper Dissection= Did you know that there are four layers in a diaper? It's true. You can take an ordinary pair of scissors and cut a 2x2 1/2 square like we did and find out for yourselves. We slowly peeled apart the layers and found the layers. Did you know that the layers are a cotton like substance, a paper-like layer, a fabric-like layer and a layer of beads all squished together. We also made predictions on their functions. The paper-like layer on the top we guessed was supposed to absorb water but did you know that it was just supposed to hold the cotton in? We found that out after we predicted it would hold one milliliter of water and poured the water on. It actually held about a 1/2 milliliter. That's not that much at all. The cotton-like layer was next. On the top we guessed that it was supposed to absorb water and it actually did! We found that after that we predicted that it would hold 5 milliliters of water it actually held 12 milliliters. Next we had the bead layer. We thought that the bead layer was supposed to absorb water and we found out that we were right. Did you know that a diaper had a bead layer? We were surprised too, especially after we found out that they held one millimeter of water when we thought they would only hold about 1/2 of a millimeter. The last layer that we found was a fabric substance. We predicted that this layer would keep all of the water inside so that the water wouldn't run out. After experimenting we were right. We predicted also that it would hold a milliliter of water but we were wrong. Did you know that it doesn't hold water at all? This layer just made sure that the diaper didn't leak. After we got done dissecting the diaper we decided to see how much water the whole diaper would hold and did you know that it holds over 100 milliliters of water? That's a lot of water! This all might seem like a great thing when you are changing your baby's diaper but what about the environment. Did you know that most of those diapers end up in landfills and that they take about 500 years to decompose!? The top and bottom layers of the are actually made up of plastic and based on how well those diapers stood up to our experiments it is not surprising that those diapers last so long! The babies might appreciate such dependable diapers but I'm not sure Mother Earth does.