Video with people with down syndrome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAPmGW-GDHA
Reading Response (7)
Please read the reading in the folder “Readings for Week 7” as well as watching the video and listening to the podcast linked within the document. Answers should range from 50 to 200 words. Students are to use their own words and not copy text from another source unless specifically asked to. Make sure your response answers the question asked. Some questions are opinion questions; there is no right or wrong answer, but I want you to make it clear you have thought about the question being asked.
1) Please listen to the podcast titled “Cell Mates.”We have discussed how humans and higher organisms, can make multiple gene products (Proteins) with a single gene. Bacteria do not have the ability to make multiple products from a single gene. Between 8 and 10 minutes of the Radiolab talks about why complex organisms need a lot more proteins. How does this understanding about the difference between bacteria and complex organism help explain why introns and exons exist?
2) All eukaryotes have mitochondria. Thus we know that this endosymbiosis happened once, and everything is a descendant the cell that acquired the first mitochondria. Radiolab, is incorrect, however, that endosymbiosis happened only once. There is a second product of endosymbiosis. At some point, cells that would become plants absorbed bacteria that would become chloroplasts, the parts of plant cells that allow pants to convert light into energy. Knowing what you do about endosymbiosis, the complexity of pants, and the decedents of cells that undergo endosymbiosis,which came first, mitochondria in cells or chloroplasts in cells? Knowing that both mosses and pine trees both have chloroplasts, would you estimate that mosses are closer related to mushrooms or pine trees? Explain your answers.
3) After listening to the Radiolab episode, we learned that mitochondria are in all of our cells and descendants of bacterial cells. Knowing this: how does knowing about how bacteria work affect our understanding of human health?
4) Please watch the TED talk by Bonnie Bassler. In the first two minutes, Bonnie Bassler explains why we need bacteria. Explain one of the roles bacteria does to keep us healthy.
5) Why is it important for bacteria to be able to communicate? Why is this relevant to us?
8) Please read the document titled “Bacterial plasmids.” This is a short but dense document. YOU ARE ONLY EXPECTED TO READ THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS: Introduction, Types of Plasmids, Conjugation. When you read the section about types of plasmids, remember that plasmids can belong to more than one type. Why is the idea that a plasmid can be both a conjugative plasmid and a virulent plasmid so important to human health?
Vocabulary (#7)
One of the best ways of proving you understand a concept is to explain it to someone else. In this case, I want you to take the following vocabulary and define the terms, words, or phrases for me. Definitions should not exceed 100 words each. Make sure you are using your own words in the definition; do not copy them from another source. Words to be defined are BOLD and underlined.
For week 7, we’re looking at bacterial biology as well as the genetics associated. All of the words appear in the readings, videos, or podcasts, but you are encouraged to look at other resources to help with your definitions:
Mitochondria
Endosymbiosis
Bacteria
Archaea
Quorum Sensing
Receptor
Virulence
Inter-species communication
Conjugation
Compatibility