As a class, students work through an example showing how DNA provides the "recipe" for making our body proteins. They see how the pattern of nucleotide bases (adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine) forms the double helix ladder shape of DNA, and serves as the code for the steps required to make genes. They also learn some ways that engineers and scientists are applying their understanding of DNA in our world.

Gene mutations occur naturally through the DNA replication process with some results being fatal and others being helpful.  This lesson will explore the types of mutations that occur, the effect they have on DNA, and examples of diseases or conditions caused by the specific type of mutation.  Students will participate in a gallery walk to learn more about the types of mutations. 

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Animal health is of utmost importance in the production of milk, meat, and other animal products. Although vitamin supplements can help ensure livestock remain as healthy as possible, they are often expensive, driving up the cost of production. To help reduce these costs, a team of researchers set out to better understand how the essential vitamins B and K₂ are produced by microbes in the gastrointestinal tracts of ruminants, which are animals with complex digestive tracts composed of multiple distinct compartments to help them break down their plant-based diets. The team used genetic data from previous studies to identify 1,135,807 genes and 2366 full genomes involved in B or K₂ vitamin biosynthesis in the gastrointestinal tracts of seven ruminant species. They also found that most of this biosynthesis took place in the stomach compartments rather than other regions and that a high-grain diet enhanced most vitamin biosynthesis but inhibited cobalamin synthesis..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This course discusses the principles of genetics with application to the study of biological function at the level of molecules, cells, and multicellular organisms, including humans. The topics include: structure and function of genes, chromosomes and genomes, biological variation resulting from recombination, mutation, and selection, population genetics, use of genetic methods to analyze protein function, gene regulation and inherited disease.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Going in for surgery? It’s possible the level of pain you’ll experience during recovery is encoded in your DNA. This conclusion draws from the work of an international collaboration of researchers. By looking at the outcomes of over 1000 patients, they pinpointed factors linked to ongoing postsurgical pain. They found that one important determinant is the code of a single gene – the brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, gene – opening new avenues for how we understand, and treat, chronic pain. Nearly all surgical patients experience some degree of postoperative pain, but it’s usually resolved as they heal. For many, however, it can last for months or even years – a condition referred to as chronic postsurgical pain. Although some elements that lead to this condition are known – nerve injury during surgery, for example, is one common cause – there’s often no easily identifiable culprit. Enter genetics..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Students learn how engineers apply their understanding of DNA to manipulate specific genes to produce desired traits, and how engineers have used this practice to address current problems facing humanity. They learn what genetic engineering means and examples of its applications, as well as moral and ethical problems related to its implementation. Students fill out a flow chart to list the methods to modify genes to create GMOs and example applications of bacteria, plant and animal GMOs.

Students will breed fruit flies through several generations and record their data using mathematical models in order to demonstrate the inheritance of trait variations.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Gastric cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. One factor linked to the disease is an aberrant mucin profile in the gastric mucosa. Mucin proteins are the major building blocks of mucus and normally support the barrier function of the gut lining. But abnormal shifts in mucin makeup are believed to disrupt the gut microbiome in ways that facilitate tumor progression. To explore how, researchers examined tumor tissues from 108 patients with gastric cancer. Tumors associated with poor survival were found to overexpress the mucin gene MUC13. Overexpression of MUC13 was, in turn, linked to increased abundance of certain oral bacteria, namely, Neisseria, Prevotella, and Veillonella, which are known to promote inflammation. Deciphering these mucin-microbiome signatures in gastric cancer could make a big impact in prevention and treatment, as they could signal disease before symptoms of gastric cancer set in..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Students perform an activity similar to the childhood “telephone” game in which each communication step represents a biological process related to the passage of DNA from one cell to another. This game tangibly illustrates how DNA mutations can happen over several cell generations and the effects the mutations can have on the proteins that cells need to produce. Next, students use the results from the “telephone” game (normal, substitution, deletion or insertion) to test how the mutation affects the survivability of an organism in the wild. Through simple enactments, students act as “predators” and “eat” (remove) the organism from the environment, demonstrating natural selection based on mutation.

Students learn about mutations to both DNA and chromosomes, and uncontrolled changes to the genetic code. They are introduced to small-scale mutations (substitutions, deletions and insertions) and large-scale mutations (deletion duplications, inversions, insertions, translocations and nondisjunctions). The effects of different mutations are studied as well as environmental factors that may increase the likelihood of mutations. A PowerPoint® presentation and pre/post-assessments are provided.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The gut microbiome (GM) plays an integral role in overall human health, yet over 70% of human GM species have never been cultured, and these microbes may hold important clues into the function of the human GM and GM-host interactions. To address this gap, researchers recently cultured 10,558 bacterial isolates representing 400 GM species from 239 healthy human donors. Of the 400 cultured species, 102 new species were identified and characterized, 28 new genera and 3 new families were proposed, and 115 genomes were newly sequenced. These data were used to construct the human Gut Microbial Biobank, an open-access resource containing taxonomic and genetic information on over 80% of the dominant microbial taxa in the human gut. Although numerous gut microbes remain uncultured, the Gut Microbial Biobank sheds new light on the identities and functions of the microbes composing the human GM and has potential applications in the development of next-generation probiotics..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Phosphorus is essential for life to function. It is a critical component of the energy metabolism molecules, genetic materials, and cell structures of all life. Phosphorus only enters natural ecosystems through the slow weathering of stone. Then microbes help maintain and regulate phosphorus by cycling it between its organic and inorganic forms. Understanding microbial phosphorus cycling is critical to many fields of study, like ecology and agriculture. However, researchers lack a comprehensive understanding of the phosphorus cycling genes microbes use, but the recently developed curated phosphorus cycling database (PCycDB) could help close that gap. PCycDB covers 10 phosphorus metabolic processes and 139 gene families, including several that have been missed elsewhere. Testing PCycDB with simulated datasets revealed high annotation accuracy, positive predictive value, sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Epithelial cells form continuous coverings over all surfaces in the human body and have distinct top and bottom sides, but they can sometimes transform to function more like mesenchymal cells, losing their tight connections to adjacent cells and gaining mobility. This process, known as epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), can be beneficial for wound healing and embryonic development but can also promote the progression of cancer. Research suggests that acetylation, or the addition of an acetyl group to another molecule, may play an important role in EMT and that this process is controlled by the activity of lysine acetyltransferase enzymes. In particular, the acetylation of specific histones, proteins that provide structural support to chromosomes and can regulate gene activity, could promote EMT. But recent studies have also shown that the acetylation of non-histone proteins could also be involved. For example, the acetylation of the protein E-cadherin has been found to accelerate EMT in cancer cells..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Psychology is designed to meet scope and sequence requirements for the single-semester introduction to psychology course. The book offers a comprehensive treatment of core concepts, grounded in both classic studies and current and emerging research. The text also includes coverage of the DSM-5 in examinations of psychological disorders. Psychology incorporates discussions that reflect the diversity within the discipline, as well as the diversity of cultures and communities across the globe.Senior Contributing AuthorsRose M. Spielman, Formerly of Quinnipiac UniversityContributing AuthorsKathryn Dumper, Bainbridge State CollegeWilliam Jenkins, Mercer UniversityArlene Lacombe, Saint Joseph's UniversityMarilyn Lovett, Livingstone CollegeMarion Perlmutter, University of Michigan

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Explain the basic principles of the theory of evolution by natural selectionDescribe the differences between genotype and phenotypeDiscuss how gene-environment interactions are critical for expression of physical and psychological characteristics

Learn how a standard middle school science experiment relates to real world science with this episode of Smithsonian Science Starters with NASA Astronaut Kate Rubins.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The strongest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease may impair the body’s cellular recycling system, allowing the build-up of harmful byproducts in the brain. People carrying the gene variant known as APOE4 are at an increased risk for the early development of Alzheimer’s and show high numbers of the brain plaques characteristic of the disease. But the underlying reason for this effect isn’t clear. Now, researchers have shown that APOE4 interferes with autophagy -- the body’s way of recycling unneeded or harmful cellular material – providing new insights into how and why APOE4 conveys such a strong risk for Alzheimer’s. The team looked at the relationship between APOE4 and a protein known as TFEB, considered a master regulator of autophagy-related genes. Prior studies have linked reduced TFEB expression to the presence of amyloid-beta plaques in the brain..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Astronaut Kate Rubins became the first person to sequence DNA in space. She eventually sequenced over 2 billion base pairs of DNA during a series of experiments to analyze sequencing in microgravity.