Drafts

Thermogenin is a protein found in the inner mitochondrial membrane in adipose tissue of some animals, such as human infants and bears. The presence of this protein allows protons to flow from the intermembrane space to the mitochondrial matrix. If a lot of this protein is present, it will decrease the rate of ATP synthesis but increase the rate of oxygen consumption, which is a measure of electron transport chain activity. This is because the proton gradient cannot form if they are allowed to flow back to the matrix and cannot be built up in the intermembrane pace. The proton gradient is what powers the synthesis of ATP through ATP synthase. Oxygen consumption will still increase though since the electron transport chain will continue to pump protons into the intermembrane space in an attempt to form a gradient. Thermogenin allows for heat production without the production of ATP, so it is important to babies and hibernating bears, which don’t require much ATP.

Modern gene therapy tools have the potential to treat diseases through gene editing. Deadly diseases in the human genome could be eliminated or minimized. However, the technology could easily be abused. Therefore, countries have been banning research on gene editing to maintain safety and for other ethical reasons. The goal of this study was to gain perspective about the opinions students have on gene editing. For our project, we surveyed 40 students attending the Univeristy of Massachusetts Amherts about the ethics of gene therapy. The survey consisted of 10 questions, and the results of these surveys were assembled into pie charts. The results showed that most people were neutral or agreed that using gene therapy to genetically modicy genes is ethical. The majory also agreed that gene editing is not ethical when used for self-satisfaction and that people would use this technology for selfish purposes if it was normalized. 

The idea of GDSL-lipases/esterases as modulators of immunity is relevant not just in Oryza sativa but also Arabidopsis and hot pepper (Gao et al., 2017). As such, it won’t be out of place to predict that our protein is involved in the modulation of immunity. The plant and subcellular localization patterns are also interesting because they suggest that the same might be the case for our protein. However, we can not draw conclusively on where our protein is expressed; it might be different.

Introns are common in eukaryotic genes but are rare in bacterial genes. For a number of years after their discovery, introns were thought to be entirely absent from prokaryotic genomes, but they have now been observed in archaea, bacteriophages, and even some bacteria. Introns are present in mitochondrial and chloroplast genes as well as the nuclear genes of eukaryotes. Among eukaryotic genomes, the sizes and numbers of introns appear to be directly related to organismal complexity: yeast genes contain only a few short introns, Drosophila introns are longer and more numerous, and most vertebrate genes are interrupted by long introns. All classes of eukaryotic genes—those that encode rRNA, tRNA, and proteins—may contain introns. The numbers and sizes of introns vary widely: some eukaryotic genes have no introns, whereas others may have more than 60; intron length varies from fewer than 200 nucleotides to more than 50,000. Introns tend to be longer than exons, and most eukaryotic genes contain more noncoding nucleotides than coding nucleotides. Finally, most introns do not encode proteins: an intron of one gene is not usually an exon for a different gene.

Comparing the summed chi squared values for the average number of eggs per individual bean to the chi squared distribution, we reject the null hypothesis that the mass of individual beans does not affect the egg count. This is seen more clearly as the average number of eggs drastically varied among the bean types for individual beans. There were most eggs on each of the lima beans on average, and lesser for black-eyed peas, and least for mung beans. This corresponds to the mass of the individual beans as well, as the average mass of a lima bean is 1.25g, for a black-eyed pea is 0.21g, and for mung bean mass it is 0.07g.

The coverings of the spermatic cord include the external spermatic fascia, cremaster muscle, and internal spermatic fascia. The coverings are originally part of the abdominal wall. The external spermatic fascia is part of the external abdominal oblique and contains the dartos muscle. The dartos muscle is a layer of smooth muscle and is responsible for the wrinkling of the scrotal skin. The cremaster muscle is part of the internal abdominal oblique. The role of the cremaster muscle is to pull the scrotum in towards the body when it is cold. The body heat would ensure that the testes are at the right temperature for sperm production. When it is too warm the cremaster muscle would relax and the scrotum would be further from the body. The internal spermatic fascia is part of the transversalis fascia.

We conducted a survey taken by 40 students at UMass Amherst, which collected their thoughts about how gene therapy should be used and regulated in the medical field, pertaining to ethics. The survey consisted of 5 questions. Answer options included: strongly agree, somewhat agree, neutral, somewhat disagree, and strongly disagree. The data was collected and condensed into pie charts. 

Another bad SNP—this one associated with a medical condition—is rs3793784, which is connected to age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). Macular degeneration is the loss of central vision caused by damage to and degeneration of the macula on the retina, and can be caused by aging. rs3793784 has been linked to age-related macular degeneration both on its own and in conjunction with another SNP. Individually, both heterozygotes and homozygotes have an increased risk of developing ARMD, with a ratio of 1.51 for the C/G genotype, and 1.60 for the G/G genotype. This individual has the C/G genotype, which puts them at a x1.5 increased risk of developing ARMD. However, there are many factors that can cause ARMD besides genetics, many of which are controllable. For example, smoking, being overweight, and high blood pressure, as well as long-term exposure to the sun without eye protection can all contribute to an increased risk of developing ARMD. If the individual knows they have a higher than average risk of developing ARMD, they can take steps to mitigate some of these known factors.

SNPs that are “not set” have no distinct “good” or “bad” repute. One of these identified in the Promethease report is rs11803731(A;A), a  SNP on the Trichohyalin (TCHH) gene which is associated with hair curliness. A study of Australians of European ancestry determined that the TCHH gene accounts for an estimated 6% of the hair morphology variance. The genotype that is homozygous for the “T” allele is associated with curlier hair, whereas the homozygous “A” genotype is associated with straighter hair. One of the popular SNPs identified on SNPedia is a SNP in the oxytocin receptor which influences social behavior and personality. The rs53576 SNP in this individual was identified as having the A/G variation, which is classified as “bad” because the G to A change in the “good” G/G genotype is associated with a potential lack of empathy. According to studies, individuals with the G allele are more sensitive and empathetic than those with even a single A allele, and may even handle stress better.