Gattaca! (It's the future)

Recently we watched a movie in Biology to understand how important DNA can be. This movie told a story about one a man who lost opportunities to do what he really wanted to do because of a society where DNA was dominant. When he was born he was written off automatically because his DNA screamed out right away his defaults and his health problems. Vincent is our main character. And he dreams of going to Gattaca, the movie equivalent of NASA. His dream is to fly up in one of the ships and be among the stars. Now, because Vincent is an "invalid" he is kind of out of luck. His DNA from day one showed that he would have a 99% chance of heart disease and his estimated death was 30.2 years. What does this mean? No one wants to put the time and money into someone who is gonna drop dead any day now. Vincent's DNA causes all kinds of problems all throughout his life. So the important question here is...What does it mean if our world becomes dependent on our DNA? If EVERYTHING is determined by what your genetic code reveals. Would that be good for our world? Would it be helpful to the human race if we went that far?

Gattaca showed a world and shared a story of something that we are closer to than we think. One day very soon it might be one of us in the shoes of Vincent. Looking at a hard life just because our DNA is displayed all over. Available to EVERYONE. We would be judged, passed up because of what our DNA said. Is that fair? Obviously there are talented people who have rose above their "conditions" to have very successful lives, to better the world and human race. But if our DNA was cutting us down before we even had a chance to prove ourselves, wouldn't the world be missing out on a huge chance to better itself? So, alas! DNA and technological advance may not be so beneficial to us. It would definitely change the world...and how we view it.

I think when you watch this movie there is one character who really sums up what the movie is trying to point out. In the movie Jerome is the guy Vincent ends up turning to, the guy who gives Vincent his shot at the stars (literally). Jerome was the guy everyone wants to be. He was a magnificent swimmer, winning every medal he laid his hopes on. He was as healthy as a horse. His heart was in perfect condition and health. He had the ideal DNA. Then one accident put him in a wheel chair for the rest of his life. This character is important because he shows that even though he had the ideal DNA his life still didn't lead in the direction he thought it would. He ended up with a life he never expected. Now instead of living out the privileged life his DNA was promising to him, he is helping Vincent. Letting him borrow his ladder, or handing him his DNA. So that Vincent can pursue the life he never had a chance at. Jerome was my favorite character because his DNA didn't define him. His DNA meant nothing to his life now because of his injury, but he gave it away so Vincent could have something. I really admire that. It also shows that one day if our world is running on the information our DNA provides, we will still have people who mean something even though they are "invalid". And they will go against the grain with the help of others to make themselves into a "valid".

So obviously Gattaca shows a lot about what the world would be like if we took DNA and made it a determining factor in the way our lives are led. Below is a trailer for the movie. It will help to explain characters and meaning of this movie. Hopefully it will give you an idea of some of the ideas and questions I touched on here.

GTCAATC...etc.etc. Old School vs. New School

 DNA SEQUENCING

A couple weeks ago we started looking at DNA. And how it is sequenced. We learned about this in a couple different ways. First we did an activity with some nice old fashioned paper and pencil (It's wonderful to get back to the basics haha) This first activity was a simulation of a DNA sequencing gel. We had to read the DNA sequences for each patient. Then find the protein sequences. We would then compare those sequences to the sequences of the normal control. This would helps us to determine if a disease state was present in one of the patients. Abby, Bob and Carol were our three patients. And "Norm" was the normal DNA sequence we were looking at.

Sample of a DNA sequence.

 We first read the normal sequence and used a handy little chart to record the sequences. Norms read: ATG  GTG CAC CTG ACT CCT GAG GAG AAG TCT GCC.  

Next we took a look at Abby's DNA sequence. Abby's read: ATG GTG CAC CTG ACT CCT GTG GAG AAG TCT GCC. 

Bob was next. His DNA Sequence read: ATG GTG CAC CTG ACT CCT GAG GAG TAG TCT GCC. 

Last was Carol's Sequence. Hers read: ATG GTG CAC CTG ACC CTG AGG AGA AGT CTG CCC.

Okay so I took advantage of the technological ability to change the text color to show you the differences between the Normal sequence and the sequences of the three patients. The normal sequence is in all red. Where the other sequences matched the normal sequence I kept in red. The blue parts are where the sequence differs from the normal sequence. As you can see the Abby and Bob's sequences stayed pretty much the same with the normal sequence. Only differing in one part. Carol's sequence on the other hand is pretty different. Carol is missing a base. A T to be exact. This is called a Frame Shift Mutation. The sequence is off by that one T. There is a C where the T was. But it isn't because the T was traded out for a C. The T is completely missing, causing the "shift".

Codon Usage Table

The next step was to find the protein sequences. We used the sequences I showed above in red and blue and this table to find the Protein Sequences.
 For example Norms Protein Sequence: MET VAL HIS VAL SER SER GLU GLU LYS SER ALA.
After we found the DNA and Protein sequences for Norm and the three patients we could see if and what mutations were present. Abby's sequence showed a point mutation. And there was truncation mutation in Bob's protein sequence. It traded out a Lysine for a Stop in the sequence. The sequence was three amino acids short. And Carol's sequence as mentioned before had a Frame Shift Mutation present.

Graph showing the similarity between Norm and the three patients.

 So after we finished up our "old-school" DNA sequencing, Mr. Ludwig had us take a look at a website that did a virtual lab of DNA sequencing. The new-school way! We basically set up a whole experiment to find the DNA sequence of a patient and see if they had a disease present. The website for this experiment is:
http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/vlabs/bacterial_id/index.html

I personally like doing the "old-school" way better. In the virtual experiment version it was cool to watch and make it happen but I really did enjoy looking at the sequences and writing it all out. Then again, I only did about three inches worth of a DNA sequence...it would probably get old after a while. So feel free to take a look at the "new-school" way of DNA sequencing. And see what you think. NEW SCHOOL or OLD SCHOOL?

Protein Code Chart found at : http://www.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt/community/basic_genetics___cell_biology/401/genetic_blueprints/559

DNA Sequencing Sample found at: http://www.biology.fourcroy.org/chapters/09dna/handouts/dna_seq_activity.htm