Step one:

Find a disease that is caused from a protein to research and answer the following questions
1. What is the disease?
● Type 2 diabetes.
2. What parts of the body does the disease affect? What are the symptoms of the disease?
● Affects blood vessels and nerves (which can affect any part of the body) but some more than others
○ Heart: increase of high blood pressure and cholesterol increases risk of heart attacks,
cardiovascular diseases, and strokes
○ Eyes: diabetic retinopathy (blood vessels in back of eye swelling and leaking), caused by high
blood pressure
○ Kidneys: diabetic nephropathy, caused by high blood pressure and cholesterol levels
○ Nerve damage
○ Skin: dry skin, slower healing
● Symptoms:
○ Increased thirst
○ Frequent need to urinate
○ Fatigue
○ Blurred vision
○ tingling/pain in hands feet/legs
3. What proteins/ genes are affected (pick one if there are multiple)?
● ABCC8 gene. A Variation in the ABCC8 Gene
4. What are the treatments? Cure?
● There's no cure for type 2 diabetes, but losing weight, eating well and exercising can help you manage the
disease. If diet and exercise aren't enough to manage your blood sugar, you may also need diabetes
medications or insulin therapy. (LINK 1)
● There is no known cure for type 2 diabetes. But it can be controlled. For some people, a diabetes-healthy
lifestyle is enough to control their blood sugar levels. (LINK 2)
5. Is there any interesting research going on now?
● Scientists discover a new promising target for diabetes treatment. Summary: Researchers have discovered
a novel and druggable insulin inhibitory receptor, named inceptor. The blocking of inceptor function leads
to an increased sensitisation of the insulin signaling pathway in pancreatic beta cells. (LINK)
Step two:
Understand Transcription
1. What is happening during transcription?→ how and why?
○ DNA codes for mRNA.
2. Where does transcription take place?
This happens with DNA in the nucleus.
3. What are the major players (terms) in transcription?
Code/copy, gene, and sequence.
4. What is the DNA code for the gene you are researching? 21 nucleotides from beginning (Home - Gene)- Use
your answer from step one. ABCC8 gene.
5. What is the mRNA code for this gene?
○ GGACAGAGGCGCGGCAGGCGC → Homo sapiens chromosome 11, GRCh38.p14 Primary Assembly
Step three:
Understand Translation
● What is happening during translation?→ how and why?
○ mRNA combines with tRNA (an anticodon w/ amino acid), travels between large and small ribosomal
subunit to create a polypeptide chain and eventually protein
● Where does translation occur?
○ the ribosome (& through cytoplasm)
● What are the major players (terms)?
○ tRNA (anticodon w/ amino acid)
○ mRNA
○ Ribosome (large and small subunits)
○ Polypeptide chain (which grows into a protein)
● What is the amino acid sequence for this gene?
○ MALWMRLLPLLALLALWGPDPAAAFVNQHLCGSHLVEALYLVCGERGFFYTPKTRREAEDLQV
GQVELGGGPGAGSLQPLALEGSLQKRGIVEQCCTSICSLYQLENYCN
Step four:
Understand protein folding

1. What is happening during protein folding?→ how (4 steps) and why? Protein folding is a process by which a
polypeptide chain folds to become a biologically active protein in its native 3D structure. The amino acids in the
chain eventually interact with each other to form a well-defined, folded protein. The amino acid sequence of a
protein determines its 3D structure. primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary.
2. Where does protein folding occur? Protein folding occurs in a cellular compartment called the endoplasmic
reticulum. This is a vital cellular process because proteins must be correctly folded into specific,
three-dimensional shapes in order to function correctly.
3. What are the major players (terms)?

Step five:
Put the information from the first 4 steps on to a graphic of some sort and make it look cool!
Title: A DNA’s Journey to Type 2 Diabetes
 Works Cited:
How Does Diabetes Affect The Body
Protein structure: Primary, secondary, tertiary & quatrenary (article) | Khan Academy
Protein Folding
Protein Folding - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

Works Cited
Editor. “How Does Diabetes Affect the Body?” Diabetes.co.uk. 15-1-2019,
www.diabetes.co.uk/how-does-diabetes-affect-the-body.html.
“Orders of protein structure.” Khan Academy.
www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/macromolecules/proteins-and-amino-acids
/a/orders-of-protein-structure.
Cheriyedath, Susha. “Protein Folding.” News Medical Life Sciences.
https://www.news-medical.net/life-sciences/Protein-Folding.aspx#:~:text=Protein%20
folding%20is%20a%20process,in%20its%20native%203D%20structure.&text=The%
20amino%20acids%20in%20the,protein%20determines%20its%203D%20structure.
Methods in Enzymology. “Protein Folding.” ScienceDirect. 2007.
www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/protein-folding#:~:text=Protein%20folding
%20occurs%20in%20a,in%20order%20to%20function%20correctly.