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week 14 Draft 5 "Yeast Genetics Lab"

Submitted by jngomez on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 13:18

HA1 is mating type a with an ade mutation resulting in mutant deficit for adenine biosynthesis. HA2 is also a mating type a with an ade mutation which also makes it mutant deficit for adenine biosynthesis (1). The color of yeast strains through growth will vary depending on the type of media utilized that lack the ade gene function. To see if yeast colonies formed we used adenine biosynthesis. Adenine is known to produce a red color, so we analyzed yeast cells to see if they changed color. If they did not have the ADE gene function, then this meant they lacked the red pigment. It is known that mutations in ADE1 and ADE2 result in the accumulation of metabolic intermediate like AIR and CAIR that result in a red color. This marks the change in color of the yeast mutant cells colonies (1). YED media has all the nutrients necessary for a yeast cell to grow and thrive. This media has a tiny amount of adenine that help adenine-requiring (ade) strains. However, ade mutants are known to grow well in this particular media having a red pigment that is due to the accumulation of and intermediate in the adenine biosynthesis pathway. The MV media has the minimal number of things that are required to help in the growth of wild-type yeast cells. This media lacks adenine which means that ade mutants are not able to grow. (1)  

week 14 Draft 4 "Yeast Genetics Lab"

Submitted by jngomez on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 13:17

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a unicellular eukaryotic fungus also known as budding yeast, has two forms in which it can be in: haploid or diploid. Haploid form exists as one of the two mating types which is MATa or MAT and when together form diploid. In haploid form they can only survive in optimal nutrient-rich surroundings. When the diploid forms are in starvation, however, they can sporulate and become haploid once more with the production of ascus which protects the four haploid spores. When nutrients supply is restored then germination of the ascus and spores will occur. If not, then the ascus will remain intact until a favorable environmental condition is meet. Diploid and haploid yeast cells have the ability to undergo budding which is essentially cell division in yeast. (1) In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the start of meiosis is controlled and regulated by mating type and nutritional conditions. This all occurs in MATa or MAT cells in nitrogen depletion media (Kassir et al. 2003). HB1, HA0, HA1, and HA2 were the haploid strains used with each containing its own characteristics. HB1 is mating type  with an ade mutation making it mutant deficit for adenine biosynthesis. HA0 is mating type a containing no mutations and has the ability to synthesize adenine.

Human Physiology Notes

Submitted by crmckenzie on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 13:15

Genetic defects in alpha receptor have normal thyroid hormone levels. They found this by screening many people as they did not know what to look for. Cardiovascular problems are common, so this could not have been used as a screening tool for someone with alpha receptor defects. The hypathalmic-pituitary-thyroid hormone pathway is very sensitive to hormone defects. T4 is the most abundant hormone in the blood, however T3 is the biologically active form. T4 is transported actively across the cell membrane into the cytoplasm and the receptor is already bound to DNA in the un-liganded form. The symptoms of thyroid disease are variable; two people with this disease are likely to have very little symptom overlap.

Anthro p1

Submitted by ameserole on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 13:05

Anthropologists refer to their projects as globalization from below because they focus on the local people in an area. They look at how large corporations and technology affects these people on a personal scale, instead of looking at it from the perspective of a whole population. This research is important as it lets us see how certain things affect each person, such as people of different occupations and different social statuses, rather than ignoring these differences and making blanket statements on how a population is affected.

week 14 Draft 3 "Humanities"

Submitted by jngomez on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 12:59

There was even a high demand in 2004 for humanities in foreign relations when an issued was made calling for National Foreign Language Capabilities. This is due to the fact to wanting to understand how other cultures work and understanding their ways of thinking. Acknowledging humanities as a key aspect in the government helps us understand our nation as well and what we value and support. Humanities capture the essence of a society as stated meaning the suffering, passion, and worries people hold.  Another reason humanities holds a key value is in awareness of surroundings during meetings, conferences, and group projects. I feel a key characteristic to hold is understanding others which is a key idea in humanities since during meetings, conferences, or group projects we must respect others even if we don’t agree with their ideas. Then we must know why they think a particular way. Circling around to the idea of being open-minded.

 

Plant Draft 2

Submitted by lgorman on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 11:49

In conclusion, they discovered that mechanisms rice plants use to grow adventitious roots mostly involve light signals to stimulate growth, while gravity was a small factor. They found the root growth had a dosage dependent relationship with all colors of light, with red light having the most efficient effect. These plants use light as the most important signal because when there is less light, the plant is probably submerged and it needs to obtain more oxygen. Using this discovery, they proposed that plants monitor oxygen availability by sensing light.

Plant Draft 1

Submitted by lgorman on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 11:48

The effects of different colored light was also a topic that they researched. To begin, they tested the root growth on stems when exposed to red light and far red light. In darkness, the stems had root penetration of 84.8%. When the stem was exposed to a high fluence rate of far-red light, the root penetration decreased to 19.1%. This was found to be a gradual decline; as the fluence rate of thel light increased, the root penetration decreased. Red light had a similar effect, causing root penetration to decrease to 18.4%. However, red light was discovered to have a stronger effect on root penetration than far-red light.  In addition to red light, they tested the effects of blue light on the plants.

Nucella Lamellosa Lab Methods

Submitted by mkomtangi on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 10:56

For this experiment, I decided to compare the thickness of the shell of the surviving snails in a population that had crabs present and a population that did not have crabs present. I did my experiment on the West side. My Independent Variable was the presence or absence of crabs, the dependent variable was the average thickness of the shell of the snails. The control of this experiment is a tank with no crabs just snails. In this experiment, I did not cull the baby snails. This means that the snails in my experiment can reproduce and I will have baby snails in my experiment.

   

There were eight tanks in my experiment. I held constant the number of snails and the thickness of snails consistent between the control and treatment tanks. Each tank had 15 snails; 5 of these snails had very thin shells(1-4 mm), 5 had thin shells (4-7 mm) and the last 5 had thick shells (7-10 mm). Four of the eight tanks were my treatment group, they were two crabs in each of the four tanks. The other four were my control group so they did not receive treatment which means there were no crabs in these tanks. I had four tanks in each group because I wanted to have replicates of my experiments.I recorded my data which is the mean of the thickness in each tank, the number of crabs and the snails that survived in each tank. After that, I run the experiment for 120 days. After every 30 days, I recorded the data again till the 120 days had past. I ran the experiment for 120 days to allow the snails to reproduce.

 

reproduction and social behaviors of P. hydrobothynus

Submitted by brettconnoll on Mon, 04/23/2018 - 21:42

The stellar river otter is an incredibly territorial and aggressive animal. The males will monitor their territory daily while foraging for frogs, and fights between neighboring, and young males happen frequently. When a young male is able to defeat a dominant male who is in charge of a pride he is able to take over the male’s pride. Many young males go around challenging other males but due to their lack of experience and size, they are very easily beaten. The male stellar river otter maybe six to eight years old before he is able to finally get a female of his own, but then he must spend the rest of his days defending his territory from rival males. The stellar river otter may live to be 20 years old and will spend its time defending its territory to the very end.

reproduction and social behaviors of P. hydrobothynus

Submitted by brettconnoll on Mon, 04/23/2018 - 21:42

P. hydrobothynus lives in large social groups of three to twelve members. A group of otters is called a pride when they are on land, and a raft when they are in the water. There are never more than two males per pride of stellar river otters, and these males are always related. A male may have a number of females ranging from one to six. In a pride of otters, there is a dominant male who rules over the entire pride. If the second male is lucky he may have the opportunity to have a female of his own however this usually is not the case. Female stellar river otters may have one to three pups a year. The male will only have one pregnant female at a time and the entire group works together to raise the pups. This prevents overcrowding in the burrows and it gives the pups more attention and resources due to a group effort to raise them. Pups stay with the pride until they are two years old. Young males are kicked out of the pride by their father, and young females will either leave on their own or be taken by another prides male. 

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