Writing in Biology

If my experience and the experiences of my peers doesn’t convince you to save the Australian Shepherds, consider the fact that these beautiful dogs have been used as a herding breed since the early nineteenth century. Australian Shepherds use their medium build and agility to weave around the livestock to gain control of the situation and bring them home. Not only are these dogs a perfect family pet, they also prove to be beneficial when completing farm chores. Australian Shepherds have also been used as emotional support dogs, police and guard dogs, as well as seeing eye dogs, drug sniffing dogs, and search and rescue dogs. Since they have such a high index of intelligence, Australian Shepherds can be easily trained for any assortment of tasks and are well suited for a wide variety of jobs. With this information, it can be concluded that Australian Shepherds are a fantastic choice of breed because of their versatility at home and even in the work force if need be.

Gene editing has been researched and carried out since the 1970s. Since then, scientists have already made huge progress in understanding genetics, diseases, as well as finding better ways for gene editing and repair. If that much progress has already been made in about 50 years, I can only imagine how gene editing will evolve during my lifetime. Gene editing is still crazy expensive and unaffordable for most people. As scientists research and find more effective ways for gene editing, I can imagine gene therapy becoming more affordable and I can also see gene testing/repair becoming a standard/common occurrence. As time goes on, research of gene editing will allow scientists to cure/prevent even more diseases as well as help us make more advancements in medicine and living a healthy life in general.

Due to the presence of this nasty retrovirus, it looks like there is a grim future for domestic dogs. However, since one breed can be saved by this vaccine, that breed should be the Australian Shepherd. After owning multiple Australian Shepherds over a span of 16 years, I can tell you that that these dogs are good natured, perfect for any lifestyle, loyal, and extremely intelligent. Each of my Aussies grew into mild mannered adults who loved my family just as much as we loved them. I played a role in training each of them as well and can say without a doubt that these dogs are brilliant. After just a few weeks, you can engrain in your Aussie puppy the basic commands and they will remember them for life. My experience with Australian Shepherds isn’t uncommon; many families in my neighborhood share the same feelings towards their Aussies as well. These families often lead very different lifestyles than my own. Some have small children, others are constantly on the move, and others are very sedentary. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting all their Australian Shepherds and each of them are just as friendly and happy as the my very own dog.

Enzymes are classed based on the mechanism by which they intereact with their substrates and their general function. An oxioreductase will transfer electrons from a molecule. As the name suggests, this type of enzyme performs either oxidation or reduciton. Usually this is through NAD+, NADP+, or FAD, which are strong electron carriers. A transferse simply transfers functional groups between molecules. These reactions always have at least two reactants. Isomerase are similar in that functional groups are transfered, though this is confined to a single molecule. In other words, an isomerase creates an isomer. Hydrolase enzymes break large molectules into smaller molecules with the use of water. The parts that are broken are then combined with the water, in many cases. Ligases combine two molecules forming a larger one. This is usually done in the presence of ATP and water. Much of the time the water molecule is produced, such as in a condensation reaction. A lyase simply breaks bonds without the use of oxidation or hydrolisis. In many cases double bonds are formed or broken. This may also be the case with ring structures.

The three reserves mentioned in the SimUText had different shapes that resulted in variations of heterozygosity and allelic loss. Reserve A was a single unit circle that obtained high heterozygosity, yet had lost alleles. Reserve B was four separate, small, circular subpopulations that obtained low heterozygosity, yet preserved all alleles. Reserve C was a combination of Reserve A and Reserve B. Reserve C was four separate, small, circular subpopulations that were all connected. Reserve C obtained high heterozygosity and preserved all alleles. The reserves I created were a similar combination to that of Reserve A and Reserve C. Reserve 1 was a large scale version of subpopulations connected, closely related to Reserve C. Reserve 2 was a mixture of Reserve A and Reserve C. It consisted of one single unit, similar to Reserve A, and was dispersed into four corners due to the ring formation, similar to Reserve C.  The similarities between the reserves contributed to their success in preventing genetic drift by encouraging heterozygosity and preserving alleles within the population.

Excitation contraction coupling is the process that leads to muscle contraction. This begins with an action potential arriving at the motor neuron which triggers the release of acetylcholine. The release of acetylcholine allows acetylcholine to diffuse into the sarcolemma and bind to receptors in the motor end plate. The motor end plate is a specialized region of the muscle fibers plasma region. The binding of acetycholine changes ion permeability which leads to a graded depolarization of the muscle plamsa membrane, this is the end plate potential. This series of events leads to the series of event in which muscle contration occurs. 

A muscle twitch has three phases. The first phase is the latent phase in which time elapses between the generation of an action potential in a muscle cell and the beginning of the muscle contraction. The second phase is the contraction phase, this is where muscle contraction occurs. The cross bridge process that causes the overlapping of myosin and actin cause muscle contraction. The cross bridge cycle occurs in this second phase of a muscle twtich. The third phase is the relaxation phase, this is the peak tension of the muscle contraction until the end of muscle contraction. During this period, sarcomeres increase in length and the force generated decreases. 

A skeletal muscle is able to produce tension, which is muscle force, when it recieves a nervous or an electrical stimualation. An increase in stimulation intensity leads to an increase in the number of active motor units. An increase in active motor units leads to an increase in muscle tension. The power of muscle contraction is related to the number of active motor units, so  a muscle contraction with few active motor untis is not as strong as a muscle contraction with with many active motor units. More force means more active motor units which means more total force. 

Methods

    Individually the three of us watched 2 videos of domestic Morgan horses,  Equus-caballus, at the UMass Hadley Farm. Both videos had two mares and two foals of about 6 months old. We individually watched and observed the behaviors of the four horses for 48 minutes and 35 seconds, created a list of behaviors, and recorded the time each behavior occurred. We compared our lists and compiled all the behaviors into one table and categorized them into 6 categories: grooming, locomotion, playing, feeding, comfort, and body positioning. We determined the categories by grouping like behaviors together and establishing certain characteristics of each category. Grooming was categorized by the horse gnawing at himself or licking. Locomotion was categorized by moving locations. Playing included interaction with other horses by nudging, jumping, or gnawing. Feeding was categorized by behaviors that included the horse’s head touching the grass and the ground. Comfort included behaviors that involve just the horse, such as tail waving, or interactions between the foal and the mare. We categorized body positioning as movements to the horse’s posture while they remained stationary. We rewatched the videos and took a screenshot of the behaviors at the time that we observed each behavior. The screenshots were placed into the table and a description of each behavior was formulated. We organized the table by the category and within each category, the behaviors appear chronologically.

To test their hypothesis, the experimenters used mice. Some mice had the ob/ob gene, some were diabetic, and others were wildtype. They also had mice of different ages in which they tested.  The experimenters then injected some mice with OB protein daily, some mice with saline, and some mice with zero injections. They then recorded information from the experiment such as how much the mice ate and their body weight.

The administration of the protein caused a reduction in the mice's body weight and adipose storage.  In addition, the mice also ate less. The body weight of the ob/ob was down 40% after 33 days and significantly different after only four days. The wild-type mice also had a reduction in body weight, body fat, and amount consumed. For the mice with diabetes, the injection did not cause a significant reduction in body weight or amount of food consumed, although they did lose some weight. 

Methods

    Individually the three of us watched 2 videos of domestic Morgan horses,  Equus-caballus, at the UMass Hadley Farm. Both videos had two mares and two foals off about 6 months old. We individually watched and observed the behaviors of the four horses for 48 minutes and 35 seconds and created a list of behaviors and recorded the time each behavior occurred. We compared our lists and compiled all the behaviors into one table and categorized them into 6 categories: grooming, locomotion, playing, feeding, comfort, and body positioning. We determined the categories by grouping like behaviors together and establishing certain characteristics of each category. We rewatched the videos and took a screenshot of each behavior at the time that we observed each behavior. The screenshots were placed into the table and a description of each behavior was created.