Genetics

Instructions
The multi-part assignment is intended to test your understanding of important concepts and to sharpen your intellectual skills of analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and application.

The intent of this assignment is to fully describe, explain, and analyze the information you learned from the textbook and other sources IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Plagiarism and/or the use of generative AI will result in a zero for the assignment.

Be sure to cite any and all sources correctly so that your academic integrity is not called into question.

This assignment consists of five questions. Copy these questions into a Word Document and compose your responses. Each response is worth 18 points and should be at least two paragraphs long, or more, depending upon the depth of the response. Please be sure to reread your work prior to submission. Grammar and mechanics, including appropriate spelling, are worth 10 points.

1. Why is the genetic code “redundant”? Explain your reasoning.
2. 5′-ATAGGGCTT-3′ is a short sequence of a strand of DNA. What will be the complementary sequence of the other strand? What will be the complementary mRNA sequence derived from the second strand of DNA? Be sure to indicate the 5′ or 3′ ends of each sequence. Finally, explain why it is important to distinguish the 3’ and 5’ ends when notating sequence, why can’t you simply write the bases down?
3. DNA isolated from a bacterial virus N77 contains 20% A, 22% T, 33% C, and 25% G. Does this result surprise you? Why or why not? How might you explain these experimental results?
4. You are given two samples of DNA, one from Clostridium perfringens and the other from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Unfortunately, the labels on the tubes of DNA were accidentally removed, and you do not know which DNA sample belongs to which organism. As you were doing some work with Escherichia coli in the lab, you also have some of its DNA available as well. The %G + %C values for each of the organisms are known (C. perfringens, 27%; M. tuberculosis, 67%; E. coli, 50%). Based upon this information, design an experiment that would allow you to quickly determine the source of the DNA for your two samples.
5. You wish to investigate proteins from human liver cells that bind to a specific short sequence of nucleotide bases you believe to be an enhancer element. Design an experiment that would allow you to isolate and characterize human proteins that bind to the nucleotide sequence you are interested in. (Include at least two separate techniques in your answer.)