Bio 305 Spring 2018

Exam 4 Take Home Question

Due at the Beginning of Class, Wed, Apr 4
Please type your response and include your name and signature at the top and turn in at
the beginning of class.
10 pts
For giving credit, I will be looking for you to write the answer in your own words—DO NOT
COPY information, except for specific names of promoters/techniques. Also, please limit the
resources you use to notes and figures I provided, the information in the 9.3 Experimental
approach section, and, additional information you may be able to find in the text about the
techniques used. Please type your responses.

What observation did Ritossa make when he observed the salivary glands of Drosophila under
normal and heat shock conditions, and how was it shown that the changes observed were
linked to transcription?

● Under normal conditions, Ritossa was finding that there was “puffing up occurring. This
occured during different stages of development. The puffs were an indication that RNA
was being made. This was indicated by the puffs as they were corresponding to other
regions that where radioactive uridine was integrated.
● Under heat-shock conditions a change in pattern was seen and the puff pattern also
seemed to change at a defined location of the chromosomal positions.

What was the goal of the experiment conducted by Pelham, and what techniques did he use to
accomplish the goal? In the case of the technique I described in class, make sure you include
that description in your answer. However, put this in your own words. What did Pelham
conclude from the results of his experiment? In class I mentioned that I found something very
interesting about how this experiment was conducted, what was that?
● The goal of Pelham’s experiment was to understand and figure out how transcription of
heat-shock genes is regulated.
● To accomplish his goal, he cloned sections of the hsp70 gene into a SV40 vector. He
then transfected the vector into monkey cells (COS cells).
● The conclusion he made was that hsp70 promoter transcription can be induced in a
heterologous system.

What was the experiment conducted by Schena et al., and what was the goal of this
experiment? Briefly describe (in your own words) the technique used by Schena et al., and
describe what the outcome indicated about changes in levels of mRNAs upon heat shock (here
indicate what it is about the “display” in figure 3 that provides this information).
● Schena et al. conducted an experiment to develop DNA arrays. The plan to do this was
to attachment of 1046 human cDNAs to glass slides. They used heat shock as one of
their initial conditions.
● The outcome of this experiment was a discovery of newly induced genes being
expressed after heat shock. In Figure 3 this is indicated the spots that indicated a
difference and change in gene expression. In this figure this is seen in the visible pink
and green spots.
Tachelle Johnson Pledge

Bio305 Exam 4 Extra Credit

There are two choices of an extra credit assignment to complete. You may only
complete one of them. At the top of the answer, please type which extra credit you
chose.

Genomic Imprinting. In the folder for lecture notes and figures I posted a link to a website on
genomic imprinting. For this extra credit, please read the entire article, and for each subheading
(include the subheading in your response) provide a brief summary (in your own words) of what
information was presented.

What is Imprinting?
Imprinted genes only have the working working copy. Rather than having two working
genes,one from mom and one from dad, one of the two is silences. This occurs through the
methyl groups being added during the duration of egg or sperm formation.

Imprinted Genes Bypass Epigenetic Reprogramming

After the the sperm and egg join, epigenetic tags that are the ones that silence genes are
removed from the DNA. In mammals, imprinted genes still have their tags and begin the
develop with the tags in place. Researching imprinting help researchers to comprehend how
genes go through reprogramming and keep their epigenetic tags.

Imprinting is required for normal development

When improper imprinting occurs, two active copies or two inactive copies can be seen leader
to developmental problems. Prader-Willi and Angelman syndrome are two disorders that are
linked to region of chromosome 15 that is missing different active genes. Prader-Willi can cause
learning difficulties,short stature and compulsive eating. This is a result of two maternal copies
and no paternal copy. Angelman syndrome has symptoms of learning difficulties, seizures, jerky
movements and happy dispositions and is seen when there are two paternal genes and no
maternal genes.

The Difficulty of Cloning Mammals

Although fair attempt has been made animal cloning is difficult and takes researchers hundreds
of times to perfect a single clone. Most use somatic cell nuclear transfer to clone which involves
removing a donor nucleus and replacing it into an egg cell that the nucleus had been removed
from. There two major problems that are seen in cloning. The first problem is that the nucleus
comes from a cell that already has epigenetic tags and that leads to a switch being off or on and
might stop the cell from performing despite efforts to erase these tags.Secondly, the epigenetic
copying machinery has a high error rate which was seen to be 1 in 25 at one point.Miscopied
tags on imprinted genes leads to problems in the resulting embryo.
Why Imprint? The Genetic Conflict Hypothesis
The genetic conflict hypothesis states that imprinting is a result of males competing for maternal
resources. Imprinted genes are involved in growth. It is also involved in metabolism. Paternal
favors larger offspring, while the mother importing will favor smaller offspring. There remains a
constant epigenetic battle between the mother and the father.

Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome
The lgf2 gene is imprinted in humans and stimulates growth during development. Although it is
typically silences, mutations can activate it which cause two active copies of the gene. This
causes Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome. (BSW). This causes overgrowth and babies are born
larger than 95 percent of their pairs and also have a higher risk of cancer. This occurs in 1 in
15,000 births. Artificially conceived babies have a a rate for 1 in 4,000. This causes concerns
and raises the need for more research.

Ligers and Tigons

The effects of imprinted genes can be seen in lions and tigers kept in captivity that end up
producing a hybrid offspring. Depending on who the mother and father is, the the look and size
of the offspring change. A male tiger and female lion make a tigon and a male lion and female
tiger produce a liger. Both differ in size and appearance. These changes are partially due to the
different imprinted genes. This kind of change can also be seen in horses and donkeys.

Imprinted Genes Are Sensitive to Environmental Signals

Due to the imprinted genes only containing a single active copy with no back ups, epigenetic
changes, also referred to as epimutations, will greatly impact expresion on the gene. These
changes can also affect imprinting and diet,hormones, and toxins affect this process. This
impacts further generations.