Transgenic Fly Virtual Lab

TRANSGENIC FLY VIRTUAL LAB WORKSHEET INTRODUCTION TRANSGENIC FLY LAB INTRODUCTION Read the Transgenic Fly Lab Introduction. Answer the following questions in the spaces provided. 1. What is the purpose of this virtual lab? What are transgenic organisms used for in research? The purpose of the lab is to make transgenic files to look at the circadian rhythm. In research the organism are used to look at genes in the genome or implementing new genes into the organisms. 2. Click on "more on experimental design." What gene will you be studying as a graduate student in this lab? Per-luc-gene 3. What is the role of a promoter (regulatory region) of a gene? The role of the Promoter basically initiates transcription. The promoter can also Stop the act of transcription. 4. What occurs when the appropriate signals turn on the promoter? The RNA Polymerase can bind to the promoter so initiation in transcription can Occur 5. What is the role of a reporter gene? Reporter genes report on the activity of the promoter that they are linked to. 6. Why is the luciferase gene such a popularly used reporter gene in experiments? Luciferase has a short half-life and can convert the chemical lucifer in into light 7. Won't it be interesting to turn an ordinary fruit fly into a fly that glows? However, the light produced has no practical function for your fly. What does the light from this transgenic organism demonstrate to you? The light from the transgenic organism, shows that you can See when it's oscillating correctly.: Page 1 of 10 8. In summary, transgenic transcriptional. Perluc flies will produce light in a pattern that reflects the activity of the Period gene. 9. List the basic steps and substeps of the lab procedure: Prepare DNA, Prepare fly embryos, inject fly embryos, breed flies Select offspring, examine light output. use the transgenic Fliesto look at the internal clock, and the gene measure the pertuc gene under varying light and dark conditions. 10. What does the period gene normally control for the fly? It Normally control the fly's molecular clock and it is linked to the luciferase gene 11. What can a mutation in the period gene alter? A mutation could result in afly with an altered expression. 12. In this lab, the period gene is linked to the luciferase gene. Why? What does this elegant model allow us to do? Model allows us to look at changes in genes simply by looking at the glow of these transgenic flies. Click to Enter the Lab. (Click the window on the left-hand side of the screen to enter the lab.) Follow the instructions in the lab (left-hand window) and answer the following questions pertaining to each part from the information Notebook window on the right. PART 1: PREPARE DNA THAT WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO THE FLY GENOME 1. What is "construct DNA"? A construct DNA that has two P elements and can be translocated into dikeren places in the DNA Click on "learn more about the technical details of DNA preparation." 2. Where is the promoter of the period gene? It's adjacent to the per- luc gene Page 2 of 10 3. If the construct DNA's promoter is activated, what will occur and what will be produced? This will result in the expression of the per-luc gene resulting in the luciferase enzyme. 4. How are DNA sequences "put together" in the laboratory? Restriction enzymes and ligases 5. The construct DNA contains a gene that confers the red eye trait. What is the significance of this "clever device" built into the construct DNA? What does it enable us to check for? Another segment of DNA is included in the construct DNA. Enables us to check to confer the red-eye trait, 6. The embryos normally develop white eyes. If the embryos incorporate the new DNA, they will pass the gene on to their progeny. What color eyes will the progeny have? Red eyes. At this point, if you wish to perform a BLAST sequence analysis of the construct DNA, click on the appropriate link. (This is not a required portion of the virtual lab.) Move through the steps in the virtual lab window on the left. Be sure to watch the virtual lab animation and follow the instructions. 7. After being filled, what does the glass needle contain? DNA Solution 8. What is the purpose of the pump to which the glass needle is attached? Precisely regulates the amount of Force ejected into and through tubing Connected to the glass needle. Be sure to answer all virtual quiz questions as they appear on your screen. Submit them for grading. Look over your results, and review the questions that were answered incorrectly. PART 2: PREPARE EMBRYOS FOR INJECTION 1. Why is it important to use embryos that are less than 30 minutes old? Embryos older than 30 mintues will not incorporate the DNA and will dilute the number of Successfully injected flies. Page 3 of 10