Biotechnology Webquest

Biotechnology WebQuest

DNA Fingerprinting:

WEBSITE #1: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sheppard/analyze.html

· DNA is unique for everyone with one exception. What would be an example of that exception?______________

· What are DNA Fingerprints used for?
A) ________________________________________________________________

B) ________________________________________________________________

Part I: “It Takes a Lickin’!”

· What “crime” was committed? ____________________________________________

· What bodily fluid was removed from the “crime scene” to get the DNA? _________________________________

· How many suspects are there in this crime? ____________

Part II: “DNA Fingerprinting at the NOVA Lab!”

· What does a Restriction Enzyme do? ____________________________________________________________

· What is Agarose Gel? ________________________________________________________________________

· What is Electrophoresis? ______________________________________________________________________

· Smaller fragments of DNA move _____________________ that longer strands.

· Why do you need to place a nylon membrane over the gel? ___________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________

· Probes attach themselves to _____________________________________________

· Which chemical in your “Virtual Lab” is radioactive? ____________________________

· Sketch your DNA Fingerprint in the box to the right.

· Based on your DNA Fingerprint…WHO COMMITTED THE CRIME??? _____________

Genetically Modified Organisms:

WEBSITE #2: http://www.amnh.org/ology/

Click on the GENETICS tab to the left, then scroll down and Click on the Quest for the Perfect Tomato.

Then click Food for Thought.

· Give two examples of genetically modified foods.

WEBSITE #3: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/coming/coming.html

Click on each of the foods on the table to see what research is being done to bioengineer the foods. List 3 foods and describe how they are being modified.

· __________________________________________________________________________________________

· __________________________________________________________________________________________

· __________________________________________________________________________________________

Cloning:

WEBSITE #4: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cloning/

Open the link and view each of the sections under “Cloning in Focus.” For each section, answer the questions.

What is Cloning?

· Who is Dolly?______________________________________________________________________________

· When a zygote divides into separate cells, it is called: _____________________________

· Somatic cells are also called ______________________.

· In order to clone a gene, a gene is inserted into a ________________________________.

· In order to create an embryo from a somatic cell, the donor egg cell must have its ___________________ removed.

Is it Cloning or Not?

For each of the following scenarios, indicate YES (it is cloning) or NOT (it is not cloning).

_________ Sperm taken from a male goat is combined with a female’s egg in a Petri dish. The resulting embryo is implanted into the female’s uterus to develop.

_________ A sheep embryo, composed of 16 cells, is removed from the mother’s uterus and separated into individual cells. Each cell is allowed to multiply, creating 16 separate embryos, which are then implanted in different female sheet to develop to maturity.

_________ A cow with many desirable traits is stimulated with hormones to produce a number of egg cells. Each of these eggs is fertilized and implanted into a surrogate mother.

_________ In vitro fertilization

_________ Cell nuclei from an extinct woolly mammoth are placed into enucleated cow cells.

Click and Clone.

Number the steps in order

Why Clone?

· Why is cloning extinct animals problematic?

· What are some reasons a person might want to clone a human?

Cloning Myths

· Briefly describe in your own words, why CC the cat was not identical in color to Rainbow, even though she was a clone.

· What is “nature vs. nurture”?

What are the risks of cloning?

· What is one reason why cloning animals has such a high failure rate?

· What is a telomere and how does it affect cloned animals?

Stem Cells:

· Go to the following website: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/stemcells/

· Click on The Nature of Stem Cells and click on the “CC” button in the bottom corner to turn on the closed captioning and the speaker to mute the sounds.

· Click on the triangle on the right side of the screen to answer the next questions

o What does it mean to differentiate?

o What is a stem cell?

· Go back to the main page and click on The Story of IPS Cells

o Once a cell becomes specialized, can it become any other type of cell?

· Back to main page and click on Stem Cells in Use

o What are three sources of stem cells that can be used to treat blood-based diseases?

· Main page-Stem Cell Quick Reference and complete the chart

·

· Main page-Unlocking Stem Cell Potential

o Tissue engineers are currently using stem cells to repair what type of tissue?

o Tissue engineers have also grown what whole organs in animals?

· Main Page-Stem Cell Debate: Is it over?

o When were stem cells first removed from embryos?

o Why is this controversial?

o What are the current US laws regarding embryonic stem cells?

Gene Splicing:

· Watch the animation at http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/genetic-engineering and summarize