DNA History

Meischer: isolated 1st crude prep of DNA from bandages, named it nuclein; discovered DNA
Morgan: did research on fruit flies; established chromosomal theory of inheritance
Feulgen: developed a method for staining DNA; discovered plant and animal nuclear DNA congeniality as well
Lederberg: proved bacterial conjugation; developed the technique of bacterial replica plating in which bacterial
colonies can be duplicated onto filters for further analysis
Griffith: tranfers the deadly component of a strain of pneumonia bacteria to an innocuous bacterium strain, and
determines there must be a genetic transforming factor in the bacteria
Avery,McCarthy,MeLeod: showed transforming factor=DNA
Chase,Hershey: proved phage DNA, not protein, was genetic material
Fragile X Lab
Restriction enzyme- a bacteria enzyme used to kill viruses; used to specifically cut up DNA
ECOR1- cannot cut up DNA b/c doesnt recognize the CGG repeats if Fragile X carrier
HINDIII- not affected by methylation; cuts DNA normally
ALU Lab
Purpose of PCR w/ cheek cells is to rapidly copy the ALU repeat section of your DNA into fragments; amplifies
DNA (in this case, Alu repeats)
Primer- initiates the making of a complimentary DNA strand
Alu- a short stretch of DNA originally characterized by the action of the Alu (Arthrobacter luteus) restriction
endonuclease;different individuals may or may not carry a particular Alu sequence at a particular location
Gibbs Free Energy- G=H-S; ATP breaks down>becomes negative; endergonic-standard change in free energy
is positive, and energy is absorbed; exergonic- energy is released, reactants lose energy (G decreases), Gibbs
free energy-negative, occur spontaneously

Mutations
Types; missense, insertion, substitution, deletion, frameshift, repeat expansion
Cystic fibrosis- caused by mutations in the CFTR gene; recessive condition that affects the chloride ion
channels in the cell membrane causing an abnormal buildup of muscus on certain cells
Sickle-cell amenia- sickle cell anemia-substitution in the beta-hemoglobin gene, alters a single amino acid in the
protein produced; cause red blood cells to become misshapen and break down (shaped like sickle)
Protein Synthesis
1)Transcription- nucleotides of genes copied in nucleus and adds 5 & GA cap at ends; 2)translation- in
ribosomes and tRNA matches sequence with codons to create polypeptide chain;
DNA Replication
Always replciates 5>3; 5>3=leading, 3>5=lagging; 1)helicase- unzips; 2)RNA primase puts RNA primer;
3)polymerase III continues and polymerase I removes primer; 4)DNA ligase connects laggin
Epigenetics
study of cellular and physiological traits that are heritable by daughter cells and not caused by changes in the
DNA sequence; describes the study of stable, long-term alterations in the transcriptional potential of a cell
mutations/chemical tags (of methyl tags on DNA or protein)>influence gene activity; various
chems/experiences can affect inheritable health consequences