THE EMIRATES NATIONAL SCHOOL,SHARJAH

BIOLOGY CLASS XII –SUPPLEMENTARY PORTION.

1)Chikungunya is a form of viral fever.

Causative Agent: alphavirus

Vector: Aedes aegypti mosquito.

Modes of transmission: This virus is transmitted only by mosquitoes

• The mosquito picks up the virus from an infected person within five days
from the day of starting of symptoms

• An infected mosquito will remain infected all its life span and can
transmit the virus each time it bites

• An infected person cannot spread the infection directly to other persons.

Symptoms: Fever,rash,arthritis, headache, conjuctivities

Diagnosis: PCR and ELISA

There is no effective treatment.

2.STEM CELL :What are STEM CELLS ?- Are unspecialized cells

-The ability to differentiate into other cells and the ability to self-regenerate.

-The stem cell are potent, self renewal ,immortal, carrying a normal karyotype
maintains and repairs tissue.

Importance: Disease curing, Pharmaceuticals ,identifying genetic disorders in

foetus ,Organ transplantation.

Source:i) Embryonic stem cell –from blastocyst

ii) Adult stem cell-can be obtain from bone marrow, lung, bone marrow and
blood, Intestinal stem cells.

IMPORTANCE: Disease curing, Pharmaceuticals,Identifying genetic disorders in

foetus ,Organ transplantation. For treatments of:- Cancer, Type I diabetes

mellitus,Parkinson’s diseases,Cardiac failure, Muscle damage, Alzhimers
diseases and other neurological diseases, Autoimmune diseases .

3. RICE GENOME PROJECT: Why we need to study rice?

• To meet rising population needs, especially in Asia, rice production needs

to increase by 70% in the next 30 years.

• Since available farming land is becoming more scarce, farmers will need
to be able to increase the yield of each plant.

• In addition, we also want to find ways of protecting crops from

environmental stress, parasites, disease, and competition from weeds.

• The rice genome will help us identify ways of solving these problems.

• WHY RICE?

• Small Genome Size

• A lot of data already available about rice DNA through major sequencing
projects.

• The larger crop genomes have much of the same DNA only repeated many
times

USES: A map would give us an overview of the structure of the rice genome.

• Sequence often has gaps. We can compare our map with the sequence,
find the overlap, and help fill the gaps.

• We use this map first to assist in the finishing of the sequence.

• The sequence can be used to quickly identify and study regions involved
in growth, disease resistance, drought resistance, and grain quality.

• Increased understanding of rice traits by studying the sequence will allow

breeders to obtain better hybrids in a much shorter time.