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In this lab a Fischer esterification reaction was performed using the reagents n-propyl alcohol and propionic acid to produce an ester product of n-propyl propionate in the presence of sulfuric acid. The ester product was characterized using odor and IR spectroscopy and was retained with a yield of 68.9%. The odor of the starting reagent propionic acid was described as unpleasant and similar to body odor. The odor of the product was described as fruity and sweet, which is in agreement with the characteristic odor of an ester. This indicates that the reaction went to completion and yielded the desired ester. IR spectroscopy also indicated characteristics of the ester product. Esters are characterized by a sharp, strong peak at 1740 cm^-1, indicated a C=O, and one was seen at 1741 cm^-1. In addition, a sharp, strong peak was described at 2972 cm^-1 , which is typical of an alkyl C-H bond. In addition, the broad peak at 3000 cm^-1 indicated the presence of a carboxylic acid O-H bond and a broad peak with medium to strong intensity at 3300 cm^-1 indicating an alcohol O-H were not seen on IR spectroscopy. The odor and IR spectroscopy indicate successful completion of the esterification reaction to yield n-propyl propionate.

Another challenge when developing mathematical models with respect to data usage is the accessibility of specific data pertaining to the topic of simulation. Often times data necessary to simulate certain scenarios, such as number of deaths by a certain disease, is not accessible to the general public or researchers alike. This makes it impossible to accurately model certain scenarios, of which solutions could be offered with mathematical modeling. The WHO has proposed that “Raw data need to be made publicly accessible for research purposes. National health equity surveillance data need to be reported to, among others, national policymakers and WHO. Global health equity surveillance data need to be reported to the Economic and Social Council, other international bodies, and back to national governments” This would allow mathematical models to be more consistent, accurate, and faster and easier to develop. In turn, modeling done more efficiently allows for interventions to be made much sooner, and problems from the community to global level would be resolved relatively quicker.

Vitamin B6, also known as pyridozine, naturally occurs in many foods we eat such as poultry, fish, starchy vegetables, and non-citrus fruits.  People may also choose to take a dietary supplement containing viatmin B6  in order to satisfy daily nutitional needs.  Vitamin B6 is required for more than 100 enzyme driven reactions involved in metabolism.  Healthy levels of vitamin B6 contribute largely to the production of modd influencing hormones such as serotonin and norepinephrine.  Vitamin B6 also assists with the conversion of carbohydrates in food into glucose for storage and ATP.  Most importantly, however, this key vitamin helps control levels of the amino acid homocysteine in the blood.  This amino acid is largely associated with heart disease, although more reasearch is needed to determine exactly how the two are interrelated. 

Mutations can occur at several locations on a gene yet result in the same phenotype. Yeast are a good organism to study the heritability of mutations because of their small size, easy and quick growth, and easily definable phenotypes. These factors also make yeast good for using tetrad analysis to determine genotypes. To study this, several crosses were carried out on adenine deficient agar plates to see what haploid gametes and what diploid cells could survive without adenine present. It was found that HA0 is the only haploid yeast cell that can grow without adenine, while HA1, HA2, and HB1 cannot grow without adenine. HB1xHA0 and HB1xHA2 were able to grow without adenine present, while HB1xHA1 and HA1xHA2 were unable to grow without adenine present. These results occurred because of the locations of the mutations on the gene, resulting in dominant alleles, mutation matches, complementation, and non-mating. A tetrad analysis was then taken of HB1xHA2. The results of the analysis show that there is a roughly 1PD:4TT, with three unknown tetrads due to culture deaths. While the analysis showed the correct ratio of PD:TT, it cannot be confirmed if the genes are linked or not due to the undefined tetrads. 

Plants sense gravity using statoliths in their roots. By cutting a cross section of the root and staining them, the researchers found that statoliths are present in adventitious root nodes no matter the age of the node. In order to study the variable of gravity when it came to the adventitious root growth, they used different experiments. First, they used a clinostat experiment, where the plants were planted and mounted and rotated for three days. After the rotation, the rotated stems had a root angle of 106°, as opposed non rotated stems which had an angle of 120.4°. The stems that were being rotated were unable to feel a constant directional effect of gravity, while the non rotated stems did, which means that gravity had a 14.4° change on the root angle.

Yeast were plated and each plate was mutagenized by Dr. Loomis by exposing the plate to UV radiation for 9 seconds via a UV light box. Cells that turned red were allowed to grow into larger colonies to be used for the experiment. Four different mutant strains were produced, two of mating type A and two of mating type alpha. Yeast labelled “A” were of the A mating type, while yeast labelled “B” were of the alpha mating type. A YED plate was set up in a grid to perform crosses (Figure 2). Each side consisted of one mating type of non-mutant yeast (HA0/HB0), a known Ade1 mutant (HA1/HB1), a known Ade2 mutant (HA2/HB2), and the two mutant strains for that mating type (MA1/2, MB1/2). After one day of growth, the yeast were crossed in a gridwise manner. Two days later, the yeast were replica plated to an MV plate and an MV+Adenine plate (Figure 3). After three additional days of incubation, the yeast colonies were observed. The full procedures followed for all steps can be found on Moodle.

The creature that exhibits the most exotic spikes is a trait that draws a female’s attention. Males compete for females that they wish to mate with by using their spikes and claws to obtain a female’s attention. This species is known to communicate through sound. In particular, they make a call which sounds like a whistle and squeal. They love the social life and prefer to not be solitary and not interacting with others of their kind. These organisms climb trees and make a home within the canopy and tall emergent trees. Their coat color of brown resembles that of tree bark and this trait gives them the ability to camouflage on ground floors as well as life above ground. 

Endler’s hypothesis was correct. Predation heavily influences guppy spot brightness. The

data from the second experiment especially supports this hypothesis. It shows that as predation

increases, spot brightness decreases. Endler’s greenhouse experiments show that without

predation, the spot brightness increases substantially over time. However, in the Cichlid ponds,

the spot brightness decreased substantially over time. The data he obtained from the field are also

consistent with the data form the lab. Finally, the data from the second experiment is very similar

and the same conclusions can be drawn.

Haploids HB1, HA1, and HA2 could not grow on their own as they could not synthesize their own adenine. This makes sense because they all had an ade mutation that makes them mutant deficient for adenine biosynthesis. Haploid HA0 could grow on its own, meaning that it can synthesize its own adenine. Again, this makes sense because this haploid strain had no mutations in any of its ade genes. The cross between HB1xHA1 did not proliferate. Because the cross contained one MATa and one MATα, sexual reproduction is possible. However, because it did not proliferate, it means that their alleles are not complementary. Next, the cross of HA1xHA2 did not proliferate. In this cross, both the haploids were MATa, therefore sexual reproduction is not possible and no proliferation is expected. The cross HB1xHA2 did proliferate. Both of these haploids could not grow on their own, however, when they were crossed they were able to proliferate. This cross contains one MATα and one MATa, thus the proliferation is caused by the complementation of their alleles. Finally, the cross of HB1xHA0 was able to proliferate. This cross needs to be furthered examined because although HB1 is MATα and HA0 is MATa, one cannot assume they sexually reproduced. As we know, HA0 is able to proliferate on its own, so either their alleles are complementary and it proliferated or it’s just HA0 proliferating and HB1 dying off.

I began my experiment by collecting and labeling two petri dishes, I then added molten GYE to the label portions of my plates and let it solidify. After I added molten water agar into the halves of the petri dishes, again letting it solidify. I then put two pieces of filter paper on the plates creating a bridge for the bacteria to move throughout, I then inoculated the organism on each strip of paper at opposite points from each other, creating a diagonal cross.

    My results for the experiment were again conclusive to my hypothesis. The Serratia marcescens showed large amounts of growth on the inoculated region of GYE and minimal growth on the inoculated region of the water agar, indicating that the organism was attracted to the GYE agar and moved in the directions towards the agar. As for the Enterococcus faecalis, there was hardly any growth on the inoculated water agar, and there was minimal growth on the inoculated GYE region of the dish, proving the the organism is nonmotile, as it hardly moved towards the chemical attractant.