Unit 6 Reflection

In this unit, we learned about Biotechnology. It includes the introduction of biotechnology, bioethics, recombinant DNA, gel electrophoresis, technology of Biotech, and pGLO. In the introduction of biotechnology, we learned that biotechnology is the study and manipulation of living things that benefit mankind. It is a large field that focuses on the understanding of DNA. We learned about the history of biotechnology as it starts from 4000 BC when Egyptians used yeast to bake leavened bread and to make wine to developing ways and splice DNA, which introduced recombinant DNA. Biotechnology is used currently. There are four types of biotech. It includes industrial and environmental, agriculture, medical and pharmaceutical, and diagnostic research. Industrial and environmental includes fermentation of food, beverages, plastics and biofuels. Agricultural includes breeding of plants and animals. Medical and pharmaceutical includes medicine from plants, fungi, animal vaccines and gene therapy. Diagnostic research includes DNA, and comparing and contrasting them.
In bioethics, we learned about the types of them. It includes morals, values, ethics and bioethics. Morals is having a justifiable position, which involves whether something is right or wrong.
Values are what we see as an important thing, and determined by personality and experiences.
Ethics is the study of morals and values influencing our decisions and bioethics is the study of decision making and applies to moral decisions because of the advances in biology. For recombinant DNA, we learned that it's the process of inserting DNA of one organism into the DNA of another organism. This results in a transgenic organism or GMO. We learned about the tools needed for recombinant DNA. The tools are a gene of interest, restriction enzyme, a plamid, and ligase. A gene of interest is when the bacteria needs to know the location and sequence of a gene. The restriction enzyme is an enzyme that cut DNA when it reads a specific sequence and a plasmid is a circular DNA that is found in prokaryotes which contains replication genes that tells the plasmid to be copied. It contains genes that give antibiotic resistance. It is also small enough to go through pores in cell membranes. Ligase is an enzyme that reattaches base pairs. In recombinant DNA, there's is a process that transforms bacteria to produce lots of protein products. The first step is to isolate DNA, which find the gene of interest and organism to insert the gene into. The second step is to get a plasmid which knows what antibiotic it's naturally resistant to. The third step is to find a restriction enzyme that cuts the plasmid once which includes above and below the gene. The fourth step is to mix the digested DNA. The fifth step is to add ligase to attach sticky ends. The sixth step is to mix recombinant plasmid with bacteria. The seventh step is the plate the bacteria on agar with a mixed antibiotic (only if they have the plasmid). The eighth step is to grow the transformed bacteria and transfer it to a broth to make the bacteria express the gene. The ninth step is the extract and purify out the protein in the inserted gene produced.
In the technology of biotechnology, we learned that it includes Polymerase Chain Reaction, and Gel Electrophoresis. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a procedure to amplify a specific DNA region. It yields millions of copies of DNA sequence and is the first step in preparing DNA for many experiments. The steps of PCR is denature is double stranded with heat, anneal, primers to single stranded DNA that is above/below region of interest, primer, small fragments of DNA that bind with a specific sequence, and extend primers with DNA polymerase which shows a new double stranded DNA. This cycle repeats a lot. PCR is uesd to detect diseases, and used for genetic engineering. Gel Electrophoresis is electricity used to separate DNA fragments based on size. We learned that small fragments travel faster than larger fragments. It's used in fields of forensics, molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry and more. We did a lab for Gel Electrophoresis where we used dyed candy to test colors and see which one traveled faster on the electopherogram. We swirled the dye with a special liquid that would help identify the bases. We then centrifuged it and put the dye in the wells. We waited for 10-15 minutes and checked on the gel.
We learned about pGLO. pGLO is a type of plasmid that it has a way to get bacteria to glow fluorescent glow under a light. We did a pGLO lab where we added Luria broth to one petri dish, Luria broth and ampicillin to one petri dish, luria broth and ampicillin to another and luria broth, ampicillin and arabinose sugar to another. The results we got was that the petri dish with luria broth, ampicillin and arabinose sugar got a lot of bacteria and the luria broth with ampilcillin got a little bit of bacteria.
In this Unit, my strengths are learning about pGLO and how it's made, Gel electrophoresis, and bioethics. I know the processes and terms of these by how we did the lab and the vodcast. My setbacks is Recombinant DNA and PCR. I do not have a clear understanding of these and I need to study these more.