Survival of the sickest chapter 4

Today, we went over the concepts found in chapter four of survival of the sickest. The overall focus of the chapter was the Fava bean. If eaten, the bean can cause hemolytic anemia. Hemolytic means that it is breaking down the cells hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is in charge of carrying the oxygen around the body. Additionally, oxygen is needed for cell respiration that leads to ATP. The Koreans used this as a poison furring the Korean War.

The enzyme that can break the sugars  in the Fava bean down is called G6PD. This enzyme stops the process of hemolytic anemia. G6PD - deficiency, which seems like a bad trait to have, actually  lowers ones chances of getting malaria because it the hemolytic anemia makes it less likely for the parasite to enter the blood cells. 

This is just one example of how a plant has developed a defense mechanism. Other examples are:

- European clover: causes reproductive system to stop working 

- nightshades: capsaicin which attacks ones pain nerves (spicy) 

- Jimsonweed: causes one to hallucinate 

- Cassava root: if not cooked, acts like cyanide 

We then chose our partners and our type of animal for the paleo project. Then we started to research.  

Quiz 9/25/13

1.) The picture shows a mammal that lived on land (specifically a whale) evolving into a a mammal that lives in the water. These intermidiate/transition fossils provide hard evidence that evolution occured because they show the subject itself changing over time.

2.) c. Australia

3.) Birds, bats, and dragonflys all live in the air. Over millions of years, these living specimen have all evolved their wings seperately. All their wings have a different structure but the same function., making them an example of a covergent evolution.

4.) The lab shows that DNA works as evidince because we compared the different sequences in the strands of data. Ancestry is evidence for evolution because we compared the DNA strands of a common ancestor, Gorilla, Chimpanzee and a human.

5.) Homology is the comparison of bone/ bodily structures in differnt living organisms. An example would be the comparison of  arm bones in animals that can grasp things with their hands such as a human, or a gorilla. Another example would be comparing the wing structures of a bat and a bird.

DNA daze: Updated

Today, we reviewed the different types of evidence that supports the idea if evolution. Then we received and went over a new standard sheet for unit 2. Then we were given two options on worksheets to work on, I chose the one about strands of DNA. In this worksheet, we had to compare the DNA strands of a gorilla, chimpanzee, human, and a common ancestor. To do this we recreated the DNA strands using colored beads and a pipe cleaner.

Then we compared each strand by counting the similar and different bases in the strands. 

Than we use our data to create a tree chart that shows the relationships between the four different strands.

This worksheet also made us think about other ways scientists Crete these diagrams. Such as: bone structure and the way they adapted to their surroundings.

There are a few ways these mutations can happen:

		Substitution A substitution is a mutation that exchanges one base for another (i.e., a change in a single "chemical letter" such as switching an A to a G). Such a substitution could: change a codon to one that encodes a different amino acid and cause a small change in the protein produced. For example, sickle cell anemia is caused by a substitution in the beta-hemoglobin gene, which alters a single amino acid in the protein produced. change a codon to one that encodes the same amino acid and causes no change in the protein produced. These are called silent mutations. change an amino-acid-coding codon to a single "stop" codon and cause an incomplete protein. This can have serious effects since the incomplete protein probably won't function.
		Insertion Insertions are mutations in which extra base pairs are inserted into a new place in the DNA.
		Deletion Deletions are mutations in which a section of DNA is lost, or deleted.
		Frameshift Since protein-coding DNA is divided into codons three bases long, insertions and deletions can alter a gene so that its message is no longer correctly parsed. These changes are called frameshifts. For example, consider the sentence, "The fat cat sat." Each word represents a codon. If we delete the first letter and parse the sentence in the same way, it doesn't make sense. In frameshifts, a similar error occurs at the DNA level, causing the codons to be parsed incorrectly. This usually generates truncated proteins that are as useless as "hef atc ats at" is uninformative. There are other types of mutations as well, but this short list should give you an idea of the possibilities.

 Info from: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/mutations_03

Some mutations can occur that may not effect the body. However, if a deadly virus causes a mutation by inserting its own DNA into the your body cells, then your whole immune system may go haywire. The immune system is in charge of protecting humans fro these deadly viruses by releasing hormones a using receptors in the outsides of the cell.

Your inner fish- Chapters one and two

Today, we covered concepts found in chapters one and two of your inner fish. In chapter one, the author of the book describes his journey to find a transition fossil from fish to amphibian. The fossil he found was a Tiktaalik. He found this fossil on his last trip to Canada. Not only does this transition fossil provide evidence for evolution, but it's location also proves evolution because of the movement of the plate tectonics. We also watched a short video showing the movement of the plates over millions of years. We also went over the process of how fossils are made.  In chapter two, the details of Tiktaalik are described, especially the fin traits. The fossil still hade characteristics of a fish: 

-gills

-scales

- primitive jaw

However, it also had characteristics of an amphibian/ reptile:

-flat head

- eyes on top of head

- neck

- one bone, two bone, more finger-like blob 

-ability to take itself out of the water (do a push up) 

^pictures of the two chapters

^tiktaalik

^shows leg bone of amphibian 

^arm bone of flying reptile 

Test day

We had a test today in class an it took the whole period. 

Review for test #1

Today, the whole class revied concepts from basic chemistry and chapters 2.3 and 2.4 in the text book. 

Basic chemistry concepts: 

-valence electrons 

-isotopes 

-chemical equations 

Chapter 2.3 and 2.4:

- Carbohydrates

- disaccharide 

-polysaccharide 

- fatty acids

-unsaturated 

- saturated

-trans fat

-proteins

-amino acids 

-peptide

-polypeptide 

-enzymes 

-isomers

-structural 

-stereo

-geometrical 

-functions of proteins 

-groups 

 Then we had a formative quiz and went over parts of the lab and how to upload and create things on your website 

Testing 1,2,3

Today in class we went over the standards and some of the vocabulary we learned in the notes we took. 

Then we were given the choice between two labs. My group chose to do the macromolecule lab. 

This lab had four different tests you had to do and it has ten different substances you had to test. 

Test#1 Benedict : testing for sugars

1. Put control in one test tube 

2. Put each unknown substance into each of their own test tube

3. Add Benedict 

4. Try to boil them all at the same time

5. Observe and record data

Test#2 iodine: testing for carbohydrates

1. Fill spot plate with control and unknown substances 

2. Add a few drops of Lugol's solution 

3. Observe and record data 

 

Test#3 biuret: testing for proteins 

1. Fill the spot plate with control and unknown substances 

2. Add Biuret reagent to each

3. Swirl contents

4. Observe and record 

Test#4 Sudan III : testing for lipids 

1. Put each unknown substance and control on their spot plate 

2. Then put a drop of each on a paper bag

3. Wipe it of slightly

4. Check for residue 

5. Record data

Or

6. Add Sudan III to each unknown in the spot plate 

7. Observe and record