SOLVE A CRIME: IN SEARCH OF MUTANT WHO

A. The crime and the suspects

A fire-breathing mutant called WHO razed the science laboratory to the ground. The
school was in chaos. Parents and teachers demanded to know who the culprit is. The
school officials are in a tight spot. They have to find WHO, and they have to it fast. They
have three suspects, namely:
1. Bigote Ugly who flunked the Biology class three times. He has long nose hairs, dark
skin and full lips.
2. Wiz Whitey whose investigatory project is about the potential applications of nuclear
fusion in generating energy. She has short nose hairs, albino white skin and full lips.
3. Dirty-Hare-Ry who was given a week’s suspension by the Disciplinary Committee for
repeated tardiness. He has short nose hairs, dark skin and harelip (cleft upper lip).
B. The crime scene
A fresh DNA sample was obtained from the crime scene, believed to have been left by the
mutant arsonist. We will call this THE CODE.
THE CODE 1: TACAAATTTATCTACCATCGTCGTATCTACAAATTTCGTATC
THE CODE 2: TACGAATTTATCTACCATCGTCGTATCTACAAACTTCGTATC
THE CODE 3: TACAAATTTATCTACCATCGTCATATCTACAAACTTCGTATC

C. Additional information
Amino acids that make up the proteins for the three hereditary characters:
1. Nose hairs
 Short: (phe-lys)
 Long: (leu-lys)
2. Skin color
 Dark skin: (val-ala-ala)
 Albino white skin: (val-ala-val)
3. Lips
 Full lips: (phe-gln-ala)
 Harelips with cleft palate (phe-lys-ala)

Note: The amino acid sequences in the proteins for particular characters in NOT REAL, this was
only conceptualized and designed for the purpose of illustrating the relationship among
DNA, protein and expression of hereditary characters.

D. Fill in the blacks the missing codon

DNA mRNA tRNA Amino Acid
1. TAC AUG UAC Methionine/ Start
2. AAA ____ ____ Phenylalanine (Phe)
3. TTT ____ ____ Lysine (Lys)
4. CTT GAA ____ Glutamine (Glu)
5. ATC ____ AUC Stop
6. CGT ____ ____ Alanine (Ala)
7. GAA CUU ____ Leucine (Leu)
 8. CAT ____ CAU Valine (Val)

E. WANTED: Crime scene investigator

Application Form
1. Copy the DNA, called THE CODE. Use a slash to separate the nucleotide letters in group
of 3.
_________________________________________________________________
2. Write the mRNA produced by transcription. Don’t forget complementary base pairing.
_________________________________________________________________
3. Write the tRNA using the mRNA as blueprint. Don’t forget complementary base pairing.
_________________________________________________________________
4. Write the amino acid sequence of the protein equivalent.
_________________________________________________________________
5. Write the phenotype expressed, based on the sequence of amino acids in the proteins
synthesized.
_________________________________________________________________
6. Provide the cartographic sketch of your PRIMARY SUSPECT based on the description
generated from your DNA analysis.

WANTED

MUTANT WHO

a.k.a

7. Submit(Name
your analysis,
of primary we will let you know Cartographic
andsuspect) if you got the sketch of suspect
job. Good luck!