To expand our knowledge of Parkinson's disease, we chose an article from the Public Library of Science that addresses a gene mutation that has been known as a cause for familial Parkinson's. This article can be found at:
Hi all, The questions concerning your paper are below. My advice is for you to try to divide them up roughly evenly among your group members. You are even welcome to post the answers independently if you'd like; just be sure to reiterate the questions. Please come see me if you need help! 1. Why, from an evolutionary standpoint, might it be informative for scientists or doctors to study conditions in mice when investigating human diseases like Parkinson’s? 2. Use the NCBI website to perform a nucleotide BLAST on Accession number NM_013988.2 (http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi?PROGRAM=blastn&BLAST_PROGRAMS=megaBlast&PAGE_TYPE=BlastSearch&SHOW_DEFAULTS=on&LINK_LOC=blasthome0). Type the accession number into the box, click “others” under Database, and then hit the BLAST button. Scroll down to the list of descriptions. Name five non-human taxa that are included in the results. What does this tell you about the Parkin gene? 3. Is Parkinson’s subject to natural selection? Why or why not? 4. Refer to the last paragraph of the Results and Discussion (pages 5&6). Discuss selection for and against the defective mitochondria associated with PINK1 mutant cells. Bonus: What types of mutations are described in the second column of Table 1 (SNPs, substitutions, indels, missense, nonsense, transitions, transversions, etc.)? -Dr. Walker
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteThe questions concerning your paper are below. My advice is for you to try to divide them up roughly evenly among your group members. You are even welcome to post the answers independently if you'd like; just be sure to reiterate the questions. Please come see me if you need help!
1. Why, from an evolutionary standpoint, might it be informative for scientists or doctors to study conditions in mice when investigating human diseases like Parkinson’s?
2. Use the NCBI website to perform a nucleotide BLAST on Accession number NM_013988.2 (http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi?PROGRAM=blastn&BLAST_PROGRAMS=megaBlast&PAGE_TYPE=BlastSearch&SHOW_DEFAULTS=on&LINK_LOC=blasthome0). Type the accession number into the box, click “others” under Database, and then hit the BLAST button. Scroll down to the list of descriptions. Name five non-human taxa that are included in the results. What does this tell you about the Parkin gene?
3. Is Parkinson’s subject to natural selection? Why or why not?
4. Refer to the last paragraph of the Results and Discussion (pages 5&6). Discuss selection for and against the defective mitochondria associated with PINK1 mutant cells.
Bonus: What types of mutations are described in the second column of Table 1 (SNPs, substitutions, indels, missense, nonsense, transitions, transversions, etc.)?
-Dr. Walker