Mitochondrial DNA

The Mitochondrial DNA Genome was sequenced in 1981, decades before the complete Human Genome was 

sequenced. It was much easier to sequence because it contains only 37 genes which are only involved in the production and storage of ATP.

 There is a non coding section of approximately

 1200 nucleotides which is called hypervariable because of its extremely high

 mutation rate. In the 

1980s a group of scientists traced the ancestry of all modern humans to Africa around 200,000 years ago. 

The results of the lab are somewhat troubling. According to our gel, I do not have any ancestry. Joe's band was the darkest so he was the most successful in extracting the DNA. Another source of the error could have been Michael destroying the gel while removing the combs.

Oh No Not a Genetic Disease

DNA testing was developed in the past few decades, and has been growing more effective, especially since the turn of the century. The tests use certain techniques to test and check to see if a person has a gene that predisposes them to get a disease. For this reason only certain genes have to be tested. The tests are performed by taking a sample of the patients cells and then isolating a gene of interest to test for. This gene could be for anything not just a disease. There are 3 possible results to the lab either homogenous negative, homogenous positive or heterogenous. We will be able to distinguish between these results by using 3 controls, one for each different result and comparing the gel electrophoresis results from the test to these controls.

First, we have to extract the DNA from our cheeks. To do this we have to take a swab of our cheek. Then to break open the cells to get access to the DNA. To do this we have to break open the cell membranes which we will do by raising their temperature to 95 degrees celcius. then we immediately have to add the cells to a solution containing Instagene Matrix beads to disable the DNAse. The DNAse is in the cell to prevent foreign DNA from entering the cell, but we need to disable it so it doesn't destroy the DNA we are trying to test. Then we will prepare the DNA for PCR by adding Master Mix which contains nucleotides, DNA Polymerase and the template strand of DNA. Then the tube is placed in a thermal cycler to raise the amount of DNA exponentially. Then we will prepare an agarose gel to electrophorese the DNA and use the results to determine who has the "disease".

The results of the Gel running showed that all four members of our lab group were, in fact, diseased. This can be seen by looking at lanes 5,6,7 and 8 which all display the same bar as lane 3 which is the -/- control lane. We are all extremely traumatized.