Milestone Paper III

Sarah Battise

BIO100

Milestone Paper

11/15/12

Part I / Trisomy 21

                It was early February in 1997 but I remember it like it was yesterday, my sister announced that her and her husband were going to have their first child. The whole family was overjoyed and excited about their future. A tiny miracle had already begun and gone through major transformations.

                Fast forward to September 22, 1997 and my sweet nephew was born. The labor went well and there were no complications but it was clear that this sweet boy was not like the rest of the babies in  the nursery. The bridge of his nose was flat and wide, his fingers were stubby, he had an eyelid fold and he was very lethargic. This miracle that we had been waiting and preparing for, our sweet boy  was born with down syndrome.

                The first thing that runs through a parents mind when something is wrong with their child is, “what did I do wrong?” In this instance, mother nature had plans that were decided months before we even knew he would be born. Down syndrome occurs when the individual has three copies of chromosome 21 instead of the normal two copies. In most instances, it’s the mother’s egg that contains the two copies of this chromosome instead of two, however, in 23% of the cases studied, the sperm had the extra chromosome 21.

                My sister was a very young mother, however, the chance of a woman having a child with down the eggs are stuck in a process phase called phase 1 of meiosis. Since long periods of time may occur between the start and completion of meiosis, there is a greater chance that nondisjunction will occur and that is what happens to create a chromosome abnormality.

                Regardless of his differences, my little nephew is just another very special member of this family. He struggles with a lot of things and he will not get to experience life and most of us know it, however, I believe he is happier than most of us. He is always happy and he has even shown many of us the true meaning of love and happiness.

Sources:

Board, A.D.A.M. Editorial. "Trisomy 21." Down Syndrome. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 18 Nov. 0000. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001992/>.

Mader, Sylvia S., Michael Windelspecht, and Lynn Preston. Essentials of Biology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2012. 150-51. Print.

Part II

The class seems to be going better for me. I feel as though things are going more smoothly and I am able to understand and keep up with the material. Things have gotten more interesting since we’ve gotten past the cell units. I see the importance of learning about the cells and their functions, however, genes, reproduction and evolution have proven to be much more interesting.

Sarah Battise        

Professor Oellers

Biology 100

September 20, 2012

Part 1 / Epigenetics

Epigenetics (epi, above, genetics) involves the study of changes in gene function that occur without a change in the DNA sequence. It’s looking at your genes and what happens to them over the course of your life. It’s studying whether or not those changes can be passed down to your children or even your grandchildren.

Do you ever wonder how siblings, or even twins, can be so different from each other? From the way they dress, the foods they like, the diseases they have or even the bigger life decisions they make, genetics play a huge role in the way people are. All cells contain your DNA, the same exact blueprint of your genetic code. There are carbon and hydrogen compounds called Methyl Groups that bind to a genome and tell it whether or not to express that gene and this is the way a cell knows what it is or what its function is. DNA winds itself around proteins called Histones and depending on how tightly it’s wound depends on whether or not the genes are able to express themselves. Every cell in the body has a distinct methylation and histone pattern and that is what gives the cells their directions. The genome does all the work but the epigenome tells the genome what to do. Your genome is the same your whole life but the epigenetic tags or information is not permanent and changes over time and can be hereditary. Epigenome reacts to situations in your life such as puberty or pregnancy but can also be altered by stress or the decisions we make about the things we do or the way we eat and treat our bodies.

So, let’s do a little research on our own. Ask your parents or grandparents if there are any characteristics that they notice about you that reminds them of themselves. Look closely and do some internal family research, ask about risks taken or tragedy, anything that would have been a milestone in their lives that may have left an epigenetic tag behind.

Scientists are learning more every day about how the human body works and responds. Epigenetics is one of those things that has been given more attention just within the past 10 or 20 years and we are learning that the epigenetic slate is not wiped clean upon conception and our futures may not be our very own to decide.

Sources:

Hank. "Epigenetics." YouTube. YouTube, 22 Jan. 2012. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp1bZEUgqVI>.

"Neurology Today." New Studies of Epigenetics: Possible Treatments for Neurodeg... :. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. <http://journals.lww.com/neurotodayonline/Fulltext/2009/01150/New_Studies_of_Epigenetics__Possible_Treatments.10.aspx>.

Part 2

1.       The one assignment that I am most proud of is the lab we did about the importance of water. I think it might be because I was able to relate to that the most out of everything we have been studying so far. It was so interesting to learn/realize how much water and energy goes into our everyday lives that we never really think about.

2.       What I understand best about this unit, honestly, is that I don’t really understand it at all. Although I know that what we learn now is the basis of everything else biology has to offer, I am really struggling to grasp the order and function of all of these things. I am actually feeling quite frustrated.

3.       The actions I took to enhance my learning was I went on the internet and was able to find things (on YouTube of all places). There were videos there that gave me the information in a different way and I was able to better understand the concepts.

4.       I feel most connected with the course during the labs when I have a hands-on experience with what we are learning. Otherwise, just trying to learn words out of a book has been very challenging to me, I think because there are a lot of definitions and concepts to learn. It’s kind of like trying to remember names without a faces… they are just names.

5.       I am a visual learner and I feel it might help if there was something more we could look at. Also, I don’t feel as though we cover the labs as thoroughly as we should. We went over the last lab in class and I felt that it was very helpful and I think we should go over each lab like that.

Natural Selection

Natural Selection: For the process in which organisms with favorable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce .