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Family Reunion

Scenario: Welcome to the annual family reunion! All the folks here today at the lake are having a wonderful time eating and talking about their health problems. Several family members relate their cancer survival stories (Fred ­ liver cancer; Sandra ­ skin cancer; Glenda ­ breast cancer) and discuss the impact that one child with

cystic fibrosis has had on their lives. We use this family's stories as an entry point for discussion of Mendelian genetics, cell division, gene expression, cancer development, and biotechnology.

Concepts Taught:

Icon Key:

activity

animation

diagram

quiz

text explanation

Concept Map:

• Family Reunion
• Organic Molecules
• DNA Structure
• Chromosomes
• Meiosis Map #1
• Meiosis Map #2
  

Concepts Reviewed:

• Surface area to volume ratio (related to cell size) (Exploration: Cell Size and Shape)
• Enzyme function of proteins
• Cell functions
• Antibiotic resistance
• Natural selection for or against genetic traits
• Coevolution

Examples of In-Class Discussion Questions: 

• What defines a heritable disease (as compared to infectious disease, which was covered in the previous scenario)?
• Can cancer and cystic fibrosis be inherited?
• If these diseases are heritable, then why don't parents and offspring both display the disease symptoms?
• What is cancer?
• Do only animals get cancer?
• What regulates cell growth and division?
• Why don't cells of multicellular organisms continue to grow and divide indefinitely?
• Why are the large cells not spherical? Why is cell division necessary as a cell grows bigger?
• What happens during cell division (mitosis)?
• How can changes in DNA result in cancer or other diseases?
• What is DNA and how does it store information?
• What pattern exists in the interaction between the two strands of nucleic acid?
• How does DNA hold genetic information?
• How is DNA used to make proteins?
• What determines the sequence of RNA transcripts and how do transcripts differ from DNA strands?
• How is the information in an RNA transcript translated into a sequence of amino acids?
• Why don't all our cells look the same and perform the same functions if they all contain the same genetic information? What might we learn from determining the nucleotide sequence of all the DNA in a cell?
• How is DNA organized?
• What is homology?
• How much genetic information is enough?
• What advantages result from having multiple sets of genetic information?
• What differences exist between genetic diseases such as cancer and cystic fibrosis?
• What is so great about sex?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of reproduction without changes in genetic material?
• What might happen to the Galapagos finches if they were all identical?
• Why don't you look exactly like your brother (or sister)?
• What are some of the mechanisms that promote genetic diversity?
• How many combinations are possible if there are a total of four different chromosomes? How about 46 chromosomes?
• What cells can undergo meiosis?
• How does genetic diversity arise in prokaryotes and other organisms that do not undergo meiosis?
• Can you inherit cystic fibrosis if only one of your parents is a carrier of a defective CFTR gene?
• What is the probability of inheriting cystic fibrosis if both parents are carriers?
• If you inherit a defective copy of the CFTR gene from your father and a functional copy from your mother, which will you pass on to your offspring?
• What is the relationship between probability and actual results?What is the probability that the coin will land head side up? Or tail side up? If you flip the coin twice does the outcome of the first flip influence the second? What is the probability that the coin will land head side up on both flips? If you flip the coin 10 times will it always land head side up five of the ten times? Is it possible for the coin to land heads up on ten consecutive flips? Flip the coin ten times and record the outcomes. How close are the actual results to the predicted results.
• What is incomplete dominance?
• What is codominance?
• What genes are not inherited equally?
• How can we test for cancer or other genetic diseases?
• How can genetic engineering be used to create "better" agricultural products or useful bacteria?
• What molecular technique is being used to identify individuals in criminal investigations?
  
  

Major Terms Introduced:

Related Laboratory Experiments and Tutorials:

Lab 10: How can the genetic composition of bacteria be altered in the laboratory?

Lab 11: How can genetic material be identified in the laboratory?

Text Readings:

The site for your textbook Life by Ricki Lewis

source	Genetic Science Learning Center provides a great tutorial explaining DNA, Genes, and Protein synthesis
source	DNA from the BEGINNING provides all sorts of information about Genetics in the form of tutorials. Under classical genetics you will find lots of help on genes, chromosomes, and inheritance. Molecular genetics will help you with DNA, RNA, replication, transcription, translation.
	Scientists Cross Pigs with Spinach Scientists in Japan implant spinach genes into pigs to create healthier pork.
source	Tour of a Cell (Read about how two NPR hosts try to discover what DNA sounds like then listen to the tour)
source	Interactive Mitosis Tutorial from San Diego State University. You can use this to review the Cell Cycle or the events of mitosis. (Note: the cell undergoing mitosis has 3 chromosomes so it is NOT diploid)
source	Meiosis Tutorial This tutorial from the University of Arizona may help you understand what meiosis is all about.
source	Cell Division Animations - These tutorial from from Cal State will help you understand mitosis, meiosis, rearrangement of chromosomes during meiosis and crossing over. Don't try to memorize the vocabulary (dyads, monads, etc.), these are explained in simple terms. Concentrate on the movement of the chromosomes and the results.
source	The Cell Cycle from The Biology Project at the University of Arizona will provide you with a good explanation and a little more detail than we discuss. It explains the links to cancer as well.
source	Steve Minchin's Learning Resources - School of Biosciences - University of Birmingham (UK) Very good site -- contains animation and interatctive tutorials on DNA, RNA, and base pairs.
source	Biology Project: Monohybrid Cross Problem Set - Here is a place to go if you need to test your knowledge of basic genetics problems. Each question is associated with an explanation that will help guide you to the correct answer if you answer wrong. Provides a good basic tutorial.
source	Biology Project: Sex-linked Inheritance Problem Set - Here is a place to go if you need help with basic genetics problems. Each question is associated with an explanation that will help guide you to the correct answer if you answer wrong. Provides a good basic tutorial.
	Biocomputing in a Nutshell Provides a fair amonunt of general information on amino acids and DNA.
source	Cystic fibrosis Includes interesting facts on cystic fibrosis, plus discussions on new treatments and finding a cure.
	Phenyketonuria is a autosomal recessive trait and this tutorial uses it to describe where the mutation is found and its effect at the metabolic (enzyme) and phenotypic (mental retardation) level.
source	Genetics of Cancer Read some case studies about cancer for which there is an inherited susceptibility for it to occur again; learn some of the details of how genes function and what is being learned about the genetics of cancer; talk to others about their experiences with cancer that tend to run in families.
source	Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) Explains what PCR is and how it is used.
source	Human genome project Includes a lengthy list of of articles which discuss the human genome project and has direct lenghts to the full text of these articles.
source	When a cell divides, what happens to its chromosomes? Drag and drop to find out if you know the answers. This exercise covers both mitosis and meiosis.

Textbook Flashcards

The website for your textbook has flashcards organised by chapters. You are only responsible for topics discussed in class. For this scenario, flashcards with the Major Terms Introduced can be found in:

Chapter 8: The Cell Cycle
Chapter 9: Meiosis
Chapter 10: How Inherited Traits are Transmitted
Chapter 11: Chromosomes
Chapter 12: DNA Structure and Replication
Chapter 13: Gene Function