Monday 26 December 2016

DIGESTION, your test is in one week on January 9

Slideshow1
Slideshow2

Your test will be based on your study notes
Studynotes answerkey1
Studynotes answerkey2

Enzymes and Hormones
Enzymes and Hormones Answers

attribution


Labs 
Lab 1 Transit Time lab and Salivary Amylase demonstration
Lab 2  Observing morphology of an animal stomach sample

Writing up your lab report.
You may be in a group of two or three.  But you must state who wrote which part of write up.
Lab Write up Format


Thursday 8 December 2016

Intro to Digestion

Now that you have a better idea of how enzymes work, we will start on the human body system.  These are theDigestion Notes.
We will go over this in class

Assignment:  Using 11 by 17 paper (from photocopy room) draw a map of the digestive system and label what happens in each of the organs

Sunday 4 December 2016

Enzyme Worksheets and please write up our labs on Liver Latte and Dry Ice

Work on these enzyme worksheets please
Worksheet 1
Worksheet 2

and Write up labs for the dry ice experiment and the Liver Latte lab
The write ups ought to include

Names (of no more than two authors)
Date
Title
Headings are:  Purpose, Materials, Procedure, Observations, Conclusion. For the Dry Ice Lab. Describe all your observations of the properties of carbon dioxide.

 include the Equilibrium equation showing what happens when carbon dioxide is mixed with water.  For the Liver Latte Lab, include the chemical equation for the decomposition of hydrogen pyroxide.  Use key words from our enzyme unit/

Thursday 17 November 2016

November 22 Biology Notes

Review these notes on enzymes

ENZYMES BIOLOGY 12

See this presentation 
And do this reading

Metabolism is the sum total of biochemical reactions in an organism it involves building things, anabolism , and breaking stuff down, catabolism.

Students will prepare their own summary consisting of two pages which summarize all key words in a cartoon of whatever is covered today

Next have students work through these worksheets
Enzyme worksheet 1
Enzyme practice questions

Friday 4 November 2016

Try this practice Quiz

Try this  self grading practice quiz to help you prep for the test and email me for any questions.  We will go over all worksheet questions prior to test next week.

Tuesday 1 November 2016

Update: test postponed :What's on the test? Here's a detailed breakdown of what to study, what to expect

test is postponed to November 17, due to we day and also I'm away with the flu, infortunately.  Hoping to be back fri but we will see.
There will be 50 questions, multiple choice, short answer, and long answer.  I'm hoping your TOC will be able to review your homework and let you know if you got it right.  If not, this will wait til I get back. 

MULTIPLE CHOICE:
1. Remember the Daily questions?  Review these questions because you may see them again on the test. 


2.  There will be multiple choice questions to see if you know the following Handouts with illustrations.  Can you tell the difference between...
     a. BONDS in biology - Can you identify ionic, covalent, polar covalent, nonpolar covalent,

      b.  Name 7 properies of water,     
      c.  Organic molecules always contains CHO, Functional Groups (recognize all functional groups),
     

      d.   Biological Molecules, monomers and polymers. know all the examples and definitions
     e.  Carbohydrates: Monosaccharides, Disaccharides and Polysaccharides
     f.  Fat Facts: Be prepared to draw all parts of this illustrated booklet!  NOTE THAT THE DEFINITION OF SATURATED AND UNSATURATED TRIGLYCERIDES DIFFER FROM THE RAYCROFT NOTES.  Use the fact facts sheet as the definitive answer!!!  Know how to recognize triglyceride fats from looking at a picture and whether a fatty acid is CIS or TRANS


LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS

     g.  DNA is made of nucleotide letters, what are they? 

      DNA structure:
         Be prepared to draw the full ladder structure of DNA from the handout given out

     h. write the correct steps of DNA Replication.
     i .  bonus mark.  Can you tell the difference between purine and pyrimidine?


2.  Review worksheets.  Be very familiar with all the answers of the  questions on the following worksheets:  They contain details from the illustrations above. 
      Fats,Carbohydrates will be the main focus of the test but I will include page one and two only from  Nucleic acids. For the key, see the keywords and illustrations in
     the Biomolecule Summary Notes see note on fats above.  Note that your long answer questions will be taken directly from questions from these handouts.  Use them as a review for the test.  Note that my long anwer test questions will be *REALLY SIMILAR TO THESE REVIEW WORKSHEETS*.


QUESTIONS ON OUR LABS
You can describe the following demos/labs done in class
a.  Gummi bear reacts to a hypotonic and hypertonic solution
b.  Drinking Milk: "Lactose free milk "is sweeter than regular milk.  Explain this demo in detail. 
      c.   Dropping food colouring in milk, and then adding soap, creates beautiful designs.  Describe what happens and explain how using your knowledge of polar and nonpolar interactions, 
     especially with soap.
      d.   You attended the Don Rix Distinguished Lecture, describe a few of the points you picked up during this lecture

REVIEW SONGS:
     a. DNA Replication Song  This ought to correspond with the DNA replication notes.
     b.  Water In and Water Out LYRICS from section 1a. above. sung to "Waterloo"

Friday 14 October 2016

October 18 and 20 Lecture and Notes - FILL OUT DON RIX LECTURE FORM

PLEASE FILL OUT THE FORM FOR DON RIX DISTINGUISHED LECTURE HERE. There's a Daily Quiz mark for you when you do so promptly.  Genome BC needs your name for registration by the end of the week! And I have to release extra seats to their waitlist.

The teacher will go over this presentation  starting from DNA and please take notes using Macromolecule notes which you ought to already have.  If the teacher on call does not have access to the projector, then please view the presentation on your electronic device and take notes from it.  If you finish these notes, then you may use the remaining time to study.

The teacher will also hand out a handout on LIPIDS.

DNA Replication Song

DNA and DNA Replication



Sunday 2 October 2016

Biomolecules Summary

Today we will have a daily quiz on previous material.  Always open book!  Plus we'll go over part of this presentation  .  You can take notes on this Macromolecule notes organizer and we will do an experiment with gummies which demonstrates what happens to cells when you place them in a hypotonic (plain water) or hypertonic (very salty) solution.  We did it in gummies.  Here's what happens to blood cells







Monday 12 September 2016

A Review of Cell Organelles

We will review the structures within the cell and you will spend some time colouring those structures in a diagram.

Here are your notes and study questions.  Please note there shall be an open book quiz next period on this material!  See the Daily Quiz portion of this website!


Try this Cell game! And here's a great intro video about the Eukaryotes: Animal Cell and Plant Cell



A Review of Cell Organelles

updated Sept 15.  DAILY QUIZ NEXT DAY
We will review the structures within the cell and you will spend some time colouring those structures in a diagram.

Here are your notes and study questions.  Please note there shall be an open book quiz next period on this material!  See the Daily Quiz portion of this website!

Try this Cell game! And here's a great intro video about the Eukaryotes: Animal Cell and Plant Cell



ATP and the endosecretory system. your topics


topics you chose include: cancer, bacteria micro biome influencing human health, diabetes, colon cancer, kinesiology, body mechanics, Genetics, Brain, Diabetes, 


Wednesday 7 September 2016

Welcome to Biology 12





Hi BI12s

It was truly a pleasure to meet you today, especially great to see some familiar faces from the past.  I am delighted to introduce the topic of biology and human physiology to you.

Today's questions for next day's open book quiz

1.  What are the eight criteria to life? Hint: The first one is that everything is made of cells.  What are the other seven which we discussed in class?

2.  Fire resembles living things, yet it is not living. 
a. What can fire do that makes it seem alive?
b.  What forms of energy come from fire?
c.  Why is it not alive?
d.  What is the combustion reaction? Is it endothermic or exothermic?

3. All cells do Cellular respiration.  
a. What is the equation for cellular respiration?
b.  What organ systems support cellular respiration?
c.  Is this an endothermic or exothermic reaction?
d.  What is ATP?



Wednesday 15 June 2016

Final Exam announcement next TUESDAY, JUNE 21

The final exam in this case will be our final chapter which is sexual reproduction.  It will be directly based on the the class notes, that is;

the slides for your worksheet up to birth only
And here's your worksheet

please review all the blanks on the worksheet up to birth
Those students who require a retest of the MULTIPLE CHOICE of the one we did last week will be given an opportunity to do that too on the same day and I'll give any extra time necessary.

Wish I could see you today but my bronchi are inflamed, and not cooperating. Grads in the class, It was a joy to see you grads cross that stage. I'll miss the grads.  please email me should you have any questions.

Wednesday 1 June 2016

Sexual Reproduction

Here are the slides for your worksheet
And here's your worksheet


Female system:
 Male system and fertilization Development and birth

Sunday 29 May 2016

Study guide for our test on friday

Multiple Choice questions
multiple choice questions are primarily testing your labeling skills.
1.  Be prepared to correctly label a diagram of the entire respiratory system
2.  Explain the control of respiration by the respiratory centre and how that works ( see my class diagram which I had handed out for you to label)
3.  know the definition of external and internal respiration 
4.  review the three  types of hemoglobin
5.  know how hemoglobin would respond if conditions are warm and acid, such as in the cells or cold and alkaline such as in the lungs
6.  know which way the carbonic acid buffer will shift its equilibrium.  see the diagrams I gave out. 

in particular, which way would the buffer shift
a.  in the cells
b. in the lungs
7.  know what enzyme makes the carbonic acid buffer go right or left
8.  label the following diagrams and be prepared to explain what goes on in each section in detail







long answer;

9.  Explain the steps of the Action potential by labeling a diagram such as the one here
in addition, correctly label a cartoon which shows the steps of the action potential. colour code the positive and negative sections accurately 
10.  Explain the steps of the synapse by labeling a diagram

Choose questions to answer in detail
11.  Choose three of the following to answer; 5 marks each
a.  make a detailed diagram of the nephron and explain what happens in each part. 
b.  correctly draw a diagram of the brain and label its parts.  
c.  contrast the differences between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems
d.  write about at least two respiratory illnesses in detail, stating the cause, symtoms and treatment
e.  make a web diagram indicating what happens in your kidneys and which hormones are involved when
     1.  there is too much salt in the blood
     2.  the blood pressure is too high
     3.  the blood pressure is too low
f.  What are the types of neurons in your nervous system and what are their jobs?
     

Tuesday 24 May 2016

Getting ready for a test

Nervous system:
review this  slides show 
Work on these worksheets on the nerve impulse and the synapse


A review of respiration and excretion
Respiration review: Excretion intro
Here are the notes
And a review presentation of respiration
And a presentation of excretion


Thursday 12 May 2016

Review questions from whole year. multiple choice

here are some review multiple choice questions.  Check out the questions for the
nervous system, excretion and respiration


These slides show 
1. a summary of the nervous system which we learned last day
new material;
2. the transmission of the nerve impulse and the synapse.  Today's lesson
3.  parts of the brain

Work on these worksheets on the nerve impulse and the synapse

here's a great summary of how the action potential in the nerve impuse works


Tuesday 10 May 2016

Intro to the Nervous System


Student review notes (with spaces) Fill in the spaces with your lecture notes given in class
Presentation Images can be viewed here
Awesome summary table of what each part does here


Monday 11 April 2016

Clinical Exam Activity as part 1 of your Respiratory exam

Next week sometime, you'll be expected to do a clinical exam on up to 6 or 7 patients using the following: In no particular order....

1.  Blood pressure cuff. Demonstrate that you know how to use it.
2.  stethescope to listen to heart AND lung sounds check this website for lung sounds:
http://www.wilkes.med.ucla.edu/lungintro.htm
3.  Examine the oral cavity and the ear canal of your patients.  What do you notice?
4.  If you choose to order lab exams you may consider collecting samples for testing such as x-ray, blood tests or an examination of the sputum
5.  You must exhibit a professional, kind, respectful and sensitive attitude towards your patient.
6.  You have taken the patient history and considered possible diagnoses.

Your patients will have any number of respiratory illnesses that are common.  This is an open book, open notes.  You will be evaluated on the six criteria above.

Resources:
Basic symptoms, info and treatment plan for some illnesses below:
https://www.lung.ca/lung-health/lung-disease

Oral exam:
Normal:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1080850-overview
some pictures o the oral cavity showing different conditions:
http://reference.medscape.com/features/slideshow/oral-cav#page=1

Chest X-rays
A tour through a normal, healthy chest x-ray:
http://radiologymasterclass.co.uk/tutorials/chest/chest_home_anatomy/chest_anatomy_start

Looking at x-rays of lung disease:
See the gallery on chest X-ray below:
http://radiologymasterclass.co.uk/gallery/galleries
And a second source:
http://www.radiologyassistant.nl/en/p50d95b0ab4b90/chest-x-ray-lung-disease.html

Friday 8 April 2016

Colouring your notes

colour code our  three diagrams and write your notes in pencil on these pages.

  •  the anatomy of the respiratory system
  • nervous system control of breathing in and out
  • Internal respiration

Tuesday 5 April 2016

Respiration

Some summary notes to show your vocab for Respiration here.  You'll get a diagram worksheet for this section.  Some useful videos to go with these summary notes
An intro to respiration is below:



This video explains the role of partial pressure and also carbon dioxide concentrations to influence how RBCs pick up and drop off oxygen

Thursday 31 March 2016

Test wednesday: April 6 . Let's examine specimens - UPDATE

The test is mainly short answer, labeling now, and based on the review. FYI. Good luck

Here is the review worksheet to help you prepare for the test.  These are selected answers to the worksheet. Here are our specimens today:
1. artery, vein, nerve x-section
2.  artery, vein, nerve x-section (another exampe)
3. Human blood (RBC have no nuclei)
4. Bird blood (RBC have nuclei)




Wednesday 9 March 2016

Sunday 6 March 2016

Instead of an exam...

you will get a quiz on Thursday, March 10 .  Check back to this post as I will be updating in the next couple of days  to inform you of the content of the quiz.

REVIEW WORKSHEETS:
Here's a review worksheet for the path of blood
And another review worksheet that summarizes our concepts so far and includes materials you will research on tuesday such as
1. parts of blood is omitted.
2. names of particular blood vessels
3. foetal circulation
Here's the big summary worksheet which shows the questions for the quiz

It's an open book quiz





Thursday 25 February 2016

How to take blood pressure

OK so next period we'll play doctor and find blood pressure.  Have  a look at this tutorial before you test this on each other...

Wednesday 24 February 2016

You will get notes on ECG and the conduction system of the heart

The conduction system of the heart:






 You will also get a cartoon to label and a worksheet today so you can see the relationship between conduction system and the way the heart fills and ejects blood.  Finally, you'll see where the heart sounds come into this whole picture.

Friday 12 February 2016

A Heart Beat, the first sound you ever heard. These videos are complex and make sense the more you watch them

click on the video below to observe a beating heart

The next video gives a simple and  clear explanation of the chambers, valves and heart sounds

The flow of blood and types of blood vessels

We will review the Circulatory System and you will map out what happens at each section of the Systemic and Pulmonary Circuit.

 We will map out the path of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients and waste and familiarize ourselves with the names of major arteries and veins.
Here's a great crash course summary which talks about the vessels and the direction of blood flow:

Be familiar with the   Major Blood Vessels





Some details on the Hepatic portal system here:

Thursday 11 February 2016

We will start the Circulation Unit.

Just finished a RNA test.  You'll get the results back next block.

Our new unit is circulation.
We will be going through these resources for class notes and I will provide diagram notes on the following topics: Please bring a paper or digital copy of these resources to class:

Raycroft summary notes:
Circulation System Intro 
   (note that I'll have a correction for this resource in the heart sound section)
Blood
  Major Blood Vessels
  Lymphatic System


Classwork:
1.  lecture and notes on An Overview of Circulation
2.  lecture  and notes on Path of various substances in the blood in detail.
We will map this out in class.
3.  Demonstration of Artery flow (pulse)  and classroom demo of venous flow with valves (we need someone in the class to pop their veins for us...

Homework:  
1.  Work through  some useful diagram resources:  these sample exercises here to review the path of substances in the pulmonary circuit.
2.  Know how to label the diagrams
3.  Watch the crash course below

Thursday 4 February 2016

Genetics Quiz Friday

Your Genetics Quiz will test your ability to solve for the following. Be prepared to draw a punnet square for

Complete dominance
Co-dominance
Sex linked alleles

I will expect you to draw a pedigree, practice from this website, which is an educational resource for health professionals who provide sensitive genetic counselling.
You will answer a question on medical ethics for which I will accept any ethical answer where I can follow your reasoning.

Practice problems

Tuesday 2 February 2016

More Genetics problems, this time focussing on Bioethics - taking a family history and the role of a health professional in disclosure

We will do some more practice of Genetics and go over some questions. Today we will also learn about pedigrees.  In fact, I'll dictate a pedigree for our test.

Angelina Jolie wrote about  a very public double mastectomy , raising awareness of the risks associated with the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 gene.

 I will give you a patient scenario and you will draw a family history.  an example is below:  BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 are autosomal alleles which are strongly linked to cancer, particularly Breast cancer.  (see this fact sheet).  Genetic counsellors interview patients to assess their risk by drawing a pedigree.  You can practice drawing a pedigree here.  As you watch this video, and read the links, make conclusions about the type of allele which may lead to the breast cancer phenotype.


Genetic Counsellors use detective work to sensitively discern a patient's risk for a genetic disease.  There are bioethical guidelines which govern disclosure.  And there's no easy answers for communication.  Have a look at this scenario to see some of the ethical concerns, and imagine that you are a health professional in this situation:


Monday 1 February 2016

Test on Protein Synthesis and Genetics

1.  Steps for Transcription of DNA to RNA, including the processing of the mRNA
2.  Steps for Translation of the mRNA, including INITIATION, ELONGATION AND TERMINATION. Look at the raycroft notes And cartoon notes.
3.  Know the answers of the DNA worksheet given out.  Emphasis on transcription and translation. Key here 
4.  optional questions :Know how to solve Genetics Questions  including drawing a pedigree
5.  optional questions :Read about the kinds of mutation and be prepared to write about two of them.
6.  optional question:What are the three forms of protein:  primary structure, secondary structure, tertiary structure.

Test date is Feb 11, 2016

Friday 29 January 2016

Practice problems in Genetics and the topic of Sex Linkage

Here's a worksheet for Monohybrid crosses : http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/genetics_practice.html
And here is its answer key: http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/genetics_practice_key.html
try some sex linkage questions here: http://www.k-state.edu/biology/pob/genetics/intro.htm

SEX LINKED GENES

The sex chromosomes are XX and XY in humans. Some alleles are located on the X chromosome. But very few on the Y chromosome.  Remember that females have the genotype XX and males have XY.

The Y chromosome carries very little information, only enough to influence the embryo on the path towards male primary and secondary characteristics.

Meanwhile, many RECESSIVE ALLELES are located on the X chromosome, including
1. hemophilia, the inability to clot blood
2. colourblindness inability to tell the difference between red and green colour
3.  baldness

These characteristics are far more common in men than women because men have only one X. And if that X contains the recessive allele, they will show the phenotype.  Meanwhile, women may have the recessive and their "normal" dominant X will protect them.  For example
An example of using a punnet square to calculate probability is here:



Some things to note about sex linkage:  Signs of sex linked alleles are:
1. more males get the phenotype, but women can be carriers
2.  men can inherit from mother but not father (because men get their X from mom)
3.  Women have an extra X and this protects them.  Women must be homozygous to show the sex linked phenotype.
Further reading on sex linkage here http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/pigeons/sexlinkage/

FYI if you are a guy and you want to know if you're colourblind:  Test yourself here: Apparently most men find out they are colourblind from their science teacher...
http://colorvisiontesting.com/home.html




codominant alleles: Blood type

What if the heterozygous trait exhibited codominance?  in this case, two homologous alleles can code for co-dominant traits.  That is neither is dominant over the other.  Blood type is an example of this:
A is codominant to B
A is dominant over O
B is dominant over O

Possible genotypes:

heterozygous AB blood gives both type A and B on the erythrocytes
homozygous AA gives blood type A  protein on the erythrocytes
homozygous BB is blood type B protein on the erythrocytes
Heterozygous AO is gives blood type A
Heterozygous BO is blood type B

homozygous recessive OO gives blood type O or neither A or B on erythrocytes.

You have heard that blood type is important for blood transfusions. That is because the immune system will always attack an unknown protein.  Thus

type A person can receive  type A blood, and will reject type B blood
type B person can receive type B blood and will reject type A
type AB person can receive type A blood and Type B blood
Type O person can receive nobody's blood except from another type O

Everyone can receive type O, No-one can receive type AB

Blood type is heritable and that means you can sometimes deduce genotype by looking at phenotype. Here is a sample question:



Dominant, Recessive alleles and using Punnet Squares.

Alleles come in pairs and a GENOTYPE IS a pair of alleles which code for a PHENOTYPE.  Phenotype refers to the observed characteristic.
For example:

B= brown eyed allele   and    b = blue eyed allele
Genotype   Bb will give the PHENOTYPE of brown eyes because B is dominant over b.

GENOTYPE BB is homozygous dominant = brown eyes
GENOTYPE Bb is heterozygous = brown eyes
bb is homozygous recessive = blue eyes.

This is a case of COMPLETE DOMINANCE and it results in grandparents passing traits to grandchildren:



If a BB person mates with a bb person, we can calculate probability of their offspring traits using a punnet square:



When Baby grows up, she mates with this guy who happens to have the same GENOTYPE!

Note that a recessive allele can be hidden inside a HETEROZYGOUS genotype.

Introduction to Genetics

Gregor Mendel, monk, was the father of Genetics.

Last day we had an introduction to Genetics and we defined these terms:
Gene
Allele
Chromatin, Chromatid, Chromosome
Homologous pair of Chromosomes
diploid number vs haploid number or 2n vs n
Human diploid number = 46 chromosomes or 23 pairs, here they are below for a male human






Courtesy National Human Genome Institute http://www.genome.gov/glossary/resources/karyotype.pdf

Each of the HOMOLOGOUS CHROMOSOMES above  can contain many pairs of alleles.  To understand this, we considered an analogy of shoes...







































Tuesday 26 January 2016

A review of Gene, Chromatin, Chromosome and inheritance

INHERITANCE is the ability to pass on traits from one generation to another.
The first experiments on inheritance was from farmers.  They made PUREBRED and HYBRID organisms to help them control the breeding of useful traits.  Every population has variation and by selecting certain traits to breed, one can get a purebred characteristic.  For example.  Suppose there is a population of bunnies:  white, brown, black, grey.  If you wanted to get only grey baby bunnies, you can SELECTIVELY BREED the grey ones.

The first experiments to look at the LAWS OF INHERITANCE was conducted by GREGOR MENDEL, a monk.  He called purebreds HOMOZYGOUS.  He called hybrids HETEROZYGOUS.

A Gene is a section of DNA which codes for a  protein. Note how it looks in Chromatin form and also Chromatid form.

A chromosome usually refers to a  duplicated chromatid.  It is a double copy of the DNA for the purpose of asexual or sexual reproduction.  Chromosomes become visible only during reproduction.

Chromatids are HOMOLOGOUS, that is, they come in pairs. In Eukaryotes, a PAIR OF GENES located on a PAIR OF CHROMATIDS  codes for one trait.

Friday 22 January 2016

quiz next day: define the following words and download some summary notes

Adaptation
Fitness
Natural selection -
Transcription -
Translation -
mRNA
tRNA
rRNA -

CODON -
Anti CODON -

Promoter -

What are two forms of protection for the mRNA? -
What are the two parts of a ribosome -
How does the ribosome attach the amino acids? -
What is the start CODON and what amino acid does it code for? -
What are the stop CODONS?

If the DNA is this?  
Then what is the mRNA and what is the amino acid?

SUMMARY NOTES:
DNA and Protein Synthesis, a summary of DNA replication (a review), and the Central Dogma of DNA, RNA and protein synthesis
DNA and Protein Synthesis worksheet
Fun converting DNA to RNA and RNA to Amino Acids

Wednesday 20 January 2016

our diagrams, note the correction in red







Codon song sung to the tune of YMCA



The Lyrics are here:from Biology Karaoke.  Put it on your playlist
t.R.N.A.
(to the tune of "Y.M.C.A.")
words by Frank Virzi

Codons - they've been looking for you;
anticodons - don't forget your delivery,
hold on, and remember to carry the
right a-mi-no acid

Details of DNA transcription and translation


Amino acids are made of a carboxyl group and amine group and an R group.  
they are the subunits for polypeptide chains which ultimately make a protein.

There are twenty one amino acids which correspond to a CODON. This forms the GENETIC CODE





Transcription: mRNA is made from the DNA strand

1.   DNA unwinds and a promoter region is exposed.  There is a SENSE STRAND (TEMPLATE STRAND) of DNA to make RNA.
2.  RNA polymerase synthesizes the mRNA from a 5' to 3' direction.  RNA nucleotides are attached only on the 3' end.
3.  When the mRNA is complete it undergoes processing
 a.EDITING THE mRNA STRAND:  INTRONS are removed and EXONS remain.
b.  A polyA tail and 5' cap are placed on the mRNA in order to protect the strand from exonuclease.  Exonucleases digest and recycle mRNA.  We want them to avoid digesting the mRNA while it is being read by the ribosome
4.  mRNA is now ready for the ribosome.  IN EUKARYOTES, it leaves the nucleus.  IN PROKARYOTES, protein synthesis starts right away

Translation:  mRNA gets read by the ribosome and a polypeptide chain is formed

 Initiation: 
1. METHIONINE is the first amino acid brought by a tRNA.  tRNA has an ANTICODON which is complementary to the mRNA CODON.  The START CODON IS ALWAYS AUG. Meanwhile, the small ribosomal subunit attaches to the strand.
2.  Next the large ribosomal subunit arrives with its P site and A site.

AMINO ACYL T-RNA is the name of the tRNA attached to the amino acid.


the following is excerpted from this website as a quote:

 and is attributed to mrsdaintreysonlineclassroom. retrieved
january 20, 2016:  
Elongation
more amino acids are added and connected together to form a polypeptide, as specified by the mRNA sequence.

i. an incoming amino-acyl-tRNA (lets call this AA2-tRNA2) recognizes the codon in the A site and binds there.
ii. a peptide bond is formed through dehydration synthesis between the new amino acid and the growing polypeptide chain.

iii. the amino acid is removed from tRNA1 (bond breaks between aa1 and tRNA1)
iv. the tRNA1 that was in the P site is released, and the tRNA in the A site is translocated to the P site.

v. the ribosome moves over one codon along the mRNA (to the right in our diagram, or more specifically in the 5' ----> 3' direction.)
vi. This movement shifts the tRNA2 (which is attached to the growing amino acid chain) to the P site.

vii. tRNA3 with aa3 can now move into A site and bind with the next codon on mRNA.
viii. THIS PROCESS REPEATS, and the CHAIN ELONGATES as long as there are new codons to read on the mRNA. 



Termination
The process above repeats until a special codon, called a STOP CODON, is reached. There are 3 Stop codons: UAA, UAG, UGA.

i. the stop codons do not code for amino acids but instead act as signals to stop translation.
ii. a protein called release factor binds directly to the stop codon in the A site. The release factor causes a water molecule to be added to the end of the polypeptide chain, and the chain then separates from the last tRNA.
  1. the protein is now complete. The mRNA is now usually broken down by exonuclease  and the ribosome splits into its large and small subunits.
  2. the new protein is sent for final processing into the endoplasmic reticulum and golgi apparatus 





Tuesday 19 January 2016

DNA, RNA and Protein Synthesis



Last period we discussed how DNA relates to the ADAPTATIONS in any organism and how these adaptations influence FITNESS.  We learned that your elderly granny has demonstrated more fitness in her youth than you presently have and we explored how DNA TRANSCRIPTION and TRANSLATION turns a one dimensional genomic "sentence" into a three dimensional protein or POLYPEPTIDE CHAIN.

We learned that DNA is a code with an alphabet of only four nucleotide letters: ATCG  and RNA differs only in the pyrimidine Uracil for AUCG.  RNA is like DNA in another coding language. Also, The "words" that these nucleotides form are called CODONS and a group of CODONS  can be translated  into a strand of molecular pearls called a polypeptide chain made out of little "pearls" the AMINO ACIDS.  The actors who orchestrate all this:  The RIBOSOMES who read the RNA, AND THE tRNA who fetch the correct amino acid.

These AMINO ACIDS are polar and thus their positive and negative poles cause the strand of pearls to bend and fold into a meaningful SHAPE.  This is the shape, colour and texture of life:  The feathers, the colours, the textures, spider silk, eye lash, the retina of an elephant, blood protein.  The shape of the protein is critical for its function, especially if that protein is an ENZYME.

An ENZYME is a biochemical catalyst and its SHAPE allows it to catalyze chemical reactions.  If an enzyme changes shape it ceases to function.  If all of our enzymes did that....it is a death sentence.

IN SUMMARY
DNA to RNA: TRANSCRIPTION
RNA to polypeptide chain: TRANSLATION
polypeptide chain folds into a correct 3D shape:  PROTEIN SYNTHESIS
The Environment selects some organisms to live and some to die in an elimination game: NATURAL SELECTION

Next period:  The Details of transcription , translation and protein synthesis
In addition to our Cartooon notes distributed in class, Here are some review materials for you.
DNA and Protein Synthesis, a summary of DNA replication (a review), and the Central Dogma of DNA, RNA and protein synthesis
DNA and Protein Synthesis worksheet
Fun converting DNA to RNA and RNA to Amino Acids

Monday 4 January 2016

VGH David F. Hardwick Pathology Centre Field trip January 6

Please meet at Starbucks at the corner of Oak and 12th 

MORNING CLASS at 9:15AM
AFTERNOON CLASS at 12:15 NOON

We will then take attendance and proceed to 2775 Laurel St to the 
David F. Hardwick Pathology Centre to listen to a talk on pathology.  Please take the time to sign the card I will prepare for our host who is so generous with her time and expertise.


Our contact is Helen Dyck at
Diamond Health Care Centere, second floor near washrooms, Room 2201, 2775 Laurel Street,