A)Web Site Name: Learn. Genetics
Human Genetics
This section will concentrate on human genetic diseases and some of the recent advances in biotechnology that will affect us in the future.
A)Web site name: Learn. Genetics
Web URL
Click on “Cystic Fibrosis”
1)Which chromosome has a defective gene that causes cystic fibrosis? _____
2)Which chemical does this protein help to move in and out of cells?
______
3)Why do people with cystic fibrosis often suffer from poor nutrition? ______
4)How do doctors diagnose cystic fibrosis?
______
______
5)What are carriers of cystic fibrosis resistant to? ______
6)How many Americans carry the cystic fibrosis gene? ______
Click on “Single-gene disorders” at the top of the page, then click on “Sickle cell disease”
7)Which subunit of hemoglobin protein is affected by sickle cell disease? ______
8)Which organ is “often destroyed” in these patients? ______
9)List three symptoms of sickle cell disease:
______
10)How is sickle cell disease treated in babies and young children?
______
11)How long do sickle shaped blood cells last? ______
12)Apart from Africa, which other areas in the world have a high rate of sickle cell disease? ______
Once a particular gene has been found, the only way to cure the genetic disease is through “gene therapy”: replacing the defective gene with the normal, correct gene.
B)Web site name: BBC News
Web URL:
Read “Bubble boy bounces back”
13)What did this rare inherited condition X-SCID do to Christopher? ______
14)What does SCID stand for? ______
15)Which chromosome does this disorder affect? ______
16)Why was he barred from seeing other youngsters? ______
17)How was the artificial gene inserted into his body?______
18)Is this treatment a complete cure? ______Explain why: ______
19) Why will their unborn daughter not suffer from this disease? ______
______
C)Web site name: University of Utah
Web URL:
Read “The History of cloning”
20)What did Hans Dreisch’s experiment with sea urchins show?
______
21)What animal’s eggs did Hans Spemann use in his experiments in 1928? ______
22)What animal was cloned by nuclear transfer in 1952? ______
23)Why are eggs from mammals harder to manipulate than eggs of frogs or salamanders? ______
24)What big advance did Ian Wilmont and Keith Campbell make in cloning? ______
______
25)Which two endangered species were cloned in 2001? ______
26)When was the first use of somatic cell nuclear transfer to produce an embryo as a source of stem cells? ______
D)Web site name: BBC News
Web URL:
Read “Pig cloning race hots up”
27)What are the tissues or organs of these pigs designed, or engineered, for? ______
28)Why are pigs good candidates for “xenotransplantation”?
______
29)What problem could be caused by xenotransplantation? ______
______
30)Which human disease are the PPL scientists hoping to cure?______
E)Web site name: BBC News
Web URL:
A new technique called “therapeutic cloning” involves taking a cell, like a skin cell, from a patient, putting its nucleus into the cytoplasm of an egg and then growing cells that are genetically identical to the patient. Unlike “reproductive cloning”, which would produce a baby, therapeutic cloning would only produce cells that would be put back into the patient’s own body.
Read the article “Scientists given cloning go-ahead”.
31).Which three diseases could therapeutic cloning be useful for treating?
______
32). How long will it be before patients could receive stem cells? ______
33).Where do the eggs for therapeutic cloning come from?
______
34). What alternative does the pro-life group suggest?
______
35).What is the punishment for reproductive cloning?
______
36).Do you personally think that research in therapeutic cloning is a good idea?
Explain your answer: ______
______
F) Web site name: Genetic science learning center
Web URL:
Read “Gene therapy successes”
37). Why did scientists end the first clinical trials treating SCID?
______
38). Which three animal models show that gene therapy can slow or reverse
vision loss? ______
39). Why is the eye a “convenient compartment” for gene therapy?
______
40). What is the name for the missing clotting protein in hemophilia?
______
41). How long after the gene therapy treatment is the patient with beta-
Thalassemia still doing well? ______
42). How many years do you think a treatment should be shown to work before
you say the patient is cured of the disease? Explain your answer.
______
43). What 3 modifications were made to T-VEC to make it a treatment for melanoma?
______