Unit 5 Reflection

     Unit five was mostly about genes and DNA. We also learned about mutations. There are several different kinds of mutations that can occur. There are point mutations, and specifcally there are also frameshift mutations. Point mutations are a change in one or two base pairs of DNA and are very small and common. Mutations are only harmful if the protein changes a lot. The less a protein changes, the less harmful it is. There are three types of point mutations. The least harmful mutation is the substitution. A substitution is when one nucleotide is substituted for another. The other two point mutations are known as frameshift mutations. These two mutations can be much more dangerous than a substitution. While a substitution only affects the one amino acid in the nucleotide that it replaces, frameshift mutations affect everything after where the mutation occurs. The two types of frameshift mutations are instertion and deletion. The earlier these mutations occur in a sequence, the more harmful they are.

     Another key component of this unit was gene expression and gene regulation. Gene expression is the process of a gene being used to produce a gene product or phenotype. Gene regulation is a mechanism used by cells to increase or decrease the expression of a gene. Cells do not want to waste energy or over express genes so there are a variety of steps used to control gene expression. The operon is a series of genes used to control the expression of a single gene. The operator is the switch that prevents or allows RNA polymerase from attaching and reading the gene. When lactose is absent the repressor molecule blocks the RNA polymerase. When lactose is present, it binds with the repressor and detaches from the operator allowing genes to be transcribed. When all the lactose is gone, the repressor reattaches itself to the operator.

     From taking the VARK questionnaire, I learned that I am an aural learner. I used some different methods to study this unit than I normally would have. One of the things that I tried was to read my notes out loud to myself after I had finished them. I feel that this helped the information stick to me. I have grown as a student in the fact that knowing I am an aural learner will definitely benefit me not only for this class, but whenever I have to study.