Plasma hypocalcemia would stimulate the activity of  

This month, there was fanfare about the first case of using CRISPR invivo to treat Leber’s congenital amaurosis 10 (LCA10) which is a leading cause of blindness in childhood. This is due to mutations in a large gene, CEP290.

The article comments that:

“For the latest trial, the components of the gene-editing system – encoded in the genome of a virus — are injected directly into the eye, near photoreceptor cells.”

A. Specifically, what components are the authors referring to when they say “the components of the gene-editing system – encoded in the genome of a virus”?

B. How is the zinc finger technology similar to the CRISPR approach?

C. What is a potential risk of using the CRISPR technology invivo?

D. If there was a suitable safe harbor, or the possibility to use a AAV virus to replace the mutant CEP290 gene in the photoreceptor cells (Similar to replacing the CNG3B channel using AAV5). What would be the potential difficulties compared to fixing the gene with CRISPR?

E. If the mutation in the CEP290 gene was known to be a premature stop codon, would the gene therapy be the safest approach to treat this disease?

i) How does the ability of phyla Annelida to move compare with the phyla Platyhelminthes, which prominently use adhesive/releaser glands to facilitate movement? Describe their movement using two examples from specific groups of annelids (structures & how it's used) in one or two paragraphs. ii) Describe the circulatory & nervous systems of phyla Annelida and how they relate to their metamerism. Finally, iii) compare your answer from part iii with the myriapods found in the phyla Arthropoda.  

What were Patterson's three different tests for morphological homology? Define parallelism, serial homology, and convergence and in detail and explain how Patterson's tests distinguish homology from them?

Lab Report 8: Energetics: Photosynthesis, Respiration, and Fermentation

Some leaves are variegated. That is, they display colors other than green (e.g. the Coleus plant).

Still other plants have leaves that contain areas of white. Use the information from the lab to

identify the probable source of ATP for plant cells located in the white regions of the leaf.

There is a mutation in corn that produces albino (white) plants. What is the potential for long-

term survival of these white corn plants? Explain.

Use the summary equations for photosynthesis, respiration, and the interaction of water and

carbon dioxide to explain the color changes observed with Elodea grown in Phenol Red.

Are yeast cells autotrophs or heterotrophs? Explain why you think so.

Explain the following statement.

All food energy ultimately comes from the sun.

Combustion of organic molecules (e.g. wood, fossil fuels, etc.) produces carbon dioxide, carbon

monoxide and other substances. Carbon dioxide and other gases are so-called greenhouse gases that can contribute to global warming and climate change. Based on the experiments and

demonstrations we have done today, what is an other effect might increased environmental

carbon dioxide might have on aquatic environments? (Hint: Phenol Red color change)

What kinds of approaches might reduce the amounts of carbon dioxide accumulating in the

atmosphere?

What is the meaning of the quotation at the beginning of this lab exercise?

Keeping the functions of water in living things in mind, describe both how too little or too much water can move an individual away from homeostasis. What happens to the structures of the body with too little or too much water intake?

Microbial Growth and Urinary Tract Infections

Discouraging Growth

Read this case file, and complete the activities that follow.

Twenty-five-year-old Lisa visited the doctor’s office where I work, complaining of symptoms of a urinary tract infection. Her symptoms included burning discomfort during urination and increased frequency of urination. Lisa has had numerous infections of the urinary tract within the past year for which she had been prescribed antibiotics. Although the antibiotics cleared up the infections quickly, Lisa was frustrated with the frequency of her uncomfortable urinary symptoms. Lisa asked me how she could prevent urinary tract infections in the future. “Well,” I said. “There are a few things you can do to decrease the number of infections you’ve been having. The first is to make sure that you are drinking plenty of water. Another thing you can do is drink cranberry juice daily. There are chemicals in cranberry juice that block the attachment of bacteria to the urinary tract. I’ve also read that the juice will help to create a more acidic environment in your bladder and will hopefully discourage the growth of bacteria."

Environmental factors influence the ability of microbes to survive and flourish. The body is normally maintained in a narrow pH range. Secretion of alkaline or acidic urine via the kidneys is one of the mechanisms used by the body to maintain normal pH. Most bacteria involved in UTIs (urinary tract infections) make the urine more alkaline by splitting urea into ammonia and other alkaline products. Cranberry juice keeps the urine acidic, making urine a less hospitable environment to bacteria attempting to gain a foothold in the bladder. Temperature is another environmental factor that influences microbial growth. Fever is thought to be the body’s natural response to invasion by bacteria, or the body’s way of making the internal environment less favorable for the growth of bacteria. Fever raises the core body temperature as much as 2°C to 3°C above normal. Some bacteria cannot tolerate higher temperatures, preferring a lower body temperature to multiply.

1. In the case, the patient is treated with antibiotics for her UTIs. Which type of organism must the physician suspect is causing her infections?

• Bacterium

• Virus

• Fungus

• Prion

2. The physician suggests that Lisa consume cranberry juice to prevent her recurrent UTIs, due to the fact that the juice makes the urinary tract more ______.

• alkaline

• basic

• acidic

• mucoid

3. The physician informs Lisa that cranberry juice appears to reduce the ability of microbes to attach to the urinary tract. Which structures are used for attachment in microbes causing UTIs?

• Cilia

• Fimbriae

• Endospores

• Pseudopods

4. Most bacteria associated with UTIs make the urine more _______, creating an environment favorable for their growth.

• viscous

• alkaline

• mucoid

• acidic

5. Which of the following signs in the patient would indicate that their body is fighting the microbes causing the UTI?

• Pain in the bladder

• Elevated respiratory rate

• Fever of 102 degrees Fahrenheit

• Low blood pressure

(a) Define epidemic, endemic, pandemic, disease outbreak and disease cluster

(b) Briefly discuss the CDC recommended 12 steps involved in a disease outbreak investigation. Which step is the most important/challenging one in the current Coronavirus disease outbreak? Why?

Differentiate between direct and indirect methods for determination of cell concentration.

Part1:

Use the information from outside resources about HGPS (Hutchinson-Gilford-progeria-syndrome) to answer the questions below.

1. Explain why the lamin A mutation is classified as a dominant-negative mutation.

2. What treatment do scientists develop to ameliorate the symptoms of HGPS in fibroblasts?

3. How did scientists use CRISPR to treat progeria?

Part 2:

1. Define the following terms:

   1. LAP2

2. HP1

3. Tri-Me-K9

4. Cryptic splice site

5. Morpholino oligonucleotide

6. Adeno-associated virus 9 (AAV9)

7. CRISPR

1. Cas9

Compare and contrast how both vessel elements and tracheid’s are constructed to minimize cavitation.

Determine if the greatest % salinity at which bacteria was able to grow at the end of the experiment is significantly different than at the start of the experiment by using the t-test.

Pooled Data:

• What determines the trait we see, like color of eggs or hair?
• Why is it useful to have variation in a population?
• Could this procedure be used to alter other traits?