Genetic Mutations Project

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hannah_tsay
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Joined: Sun Nov 22, 2015 9:07 pm
Occupation: Student

Genetic Mutations Project

Post by hannah_tsay »

Hi,

Recently I have been working on the "From Genes to Genetic Diseases: What Kinds of Mutations Matter?" project.
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... #procedure

I have completed it, however I am confused about what you can conclude from the data, and how you can make a graph from it. From my data, I can infer that if the normal and mutant amino acids are different, then a genetic disease occurs. This is about it, though. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
hannah_tsay
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Nov 22, 2015 9:07 pm
Occupation: Student

Re: Genetic Mutations Project

Post by hannah_tsay »

To update on this, I have talked to my teacher and he has told me a graph is not necessary for this project. Could someone help me with a possible hypothesis for this?

Thanks!
norman40
Former Expert
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Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2014 1:49 pm
Occupation: retired chemist
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Re: Genetic Mutations Project

Post by norman40 »

Hello hannah_tsay,

A hypothesis is a statement about what you expect to happen in your experiment. Your hypothesis should include what you will do in your experiment to make something happen that you can observe or measure. There is a great tutorial on constructing a hypothesis at this link:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ml#keyinfo

In the project you are working on, your hypothesis should be about the kind of amino acid sequence change that results in pathogenic alleles.

I hope this helps. Please post again if you have more questions.

A. Norman
hannah_tsay
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Nov 22, 2015 9:07 pm
Occupation: Student

Re: Genetic Mutations Project

Post by hannah_tsay »

Does this work?

I hypothesize that alleles which have an amino acid sequence change will cause cystic fibrosis.

Also, for some reason, I could not find any amino acid sequence change for non-pathogenic alleles on the website. I am researching cystic fibrosis, so this was all done under the CFTR gene.
norman40
Former Expert
Posts: 1022
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2014 1:49 pm
Occupation: retired chemist
Project Question: Volunteer
Project Due Date: n/a
Project Status: Not applicable

Re: Genetic Mutations Project

Post by norman40 »

Hi hannah_tsay,

In your project you are investigating specific amino acid changes that result in pathogenic alleles. But the hypothesis you posted indicates than any amino acid sequence change will cause cystic fibrosis. I think your hypothesis should reflect the fact that you’re looking for certain kinds of amino acid changes.

I haven’t worked through this project but as I understand the procedure five non-pathogenic alleles are listed for you in Table 1 in the “Procedure” section. The procedure directs you to complete the table for the non-pathogenic alleles. Next, you are to make entries in Table 1 for ten pathogenic alleles using information from the website. I think the “Procedure” section has all of the information on non-pathogenic alleles that you need for the project.

I hope this helps. Please post again if you have more questions.

A. Norman
hannah_tsay
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Nov 22, 2015 9:07 pm
Occupation: Student

Re: Genetic Mutations Project

Post by hannah_tsay »

How would I find the codon sequence change (DNA and mRNA), amino acid sequence change, and the effect for the non-pathogenic alleles?
norman40
Former Expert
Posts: 1022
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2014 1:49 pm
Occupation: retired chemist
Project Question: Volunteer
Project Due Date: n/a
Project Status: Not applicable

Re: Genetic Mutations Project

Post by norman40 »

Hi hannah_tsay,

The DNA codon sequence changes for the five non-pathogenic alleles are listed in Table 1 in the procedure. To get the mRNA codon sequence changes you should follow the instructions given at step 3 just below Table 1.

Step 4 in the procedure describes how to determine the amino acid sequence change from the information in Figure 2 and the mRNA codon sequences you’ve listed in Table 1.

Instructions for finding the effect of the amino acid sequence changes are listed under the heading “Testing How the Mutation Matters”.

I hope this helps. Please post again if you have more questions.

A. Norman
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