Project
This project was to find a genetic disease based off of a protein malfunction or failure. My group, Jackson, Rachel, and Robert all chose to do a disease called Gaucher Disease which made it so that the body lost its ability to remove lipids. To understand how it works, we researched and made a video explaining how it works.
Content
Proteins do just about everything in our body, from catalyzing chemical reactions to transporting nutrients to forming the body's structures. Proteins are made up of combinations of twenty amino acids. Each amino acid consists of a carbon atom bonded to a hydrogen, a carboxyl group, an amino group, and a side chain. A chain of amino acids is called a polypeptide chain. Protein synthesis begins with DNA. This macromolecule consists of a sugar-phosphate backbone bound to pairs of nucleotides called base pairs. It is stored in the nucleus, the brain of the cell. To initiate the first step of protein synthesis, transcription, the base pairs on the DNA strand are separated by the enzyme RNA polymerase. When the enzyme separates the pairs, free floating nucleotides bond to the DNA, forming messenger RNA (mRNA). When this process is finished, the mRNA floats out of the nucleus into the cytoplasm. The mRNA contains exons, which are used in synthesizing the protein, and introns, which are extraneous to the process. In the cytoplasm, the introns are removed from the mRNA, preparing it for translation. Then ribosomal subunits attach to the mRNA. The ribosome reads the bases on the mRNA in sets of three, called codons. Transfer RNA (tRNA), which carries the amino acids for protein synthesis, enter the ribosome at the acceptance site. Each tRNA molecule contains an anticodon, a set of three nucleotides complementary to a codon on the mRNA. As the ribosome moves along the mRNA strand, the tRNA molecules deliver their amino acids to a forming polypeptide chain. Every one of these chains starts with a methionine molecule, marked on mRNA with the codon AUG. When the ribosome reaches a stop codon on the polypeptide chain, the mRNA, and the ribosomal subunits all detach from one another. When the polypeptide chain is detached, it starts to contort, starting the folding phase of protein synthesis. As the chain passes through the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus, it folds into its final shape. It begins by forming a-helices and B-sheets, known as the secondary structures. These then combine to form domains tertiary structures and the final protein the quaternary structure. This can all be tied back to the project since everything we did here can realte to our video explaining the disease
Reflection
For this project, we were told that we could present in any way shape or form that we wanted to. At first we weren't really sure what to do but after some discussion, we came to the idea of a video. One great thing about this project was my group. I feel like we were all able to come together and share our ideas to get a better outcome. I also was able to improve my video editing skills since I was the one that edited the video. Of course my group gathered most of the information and gave it to me and suggested certain ideas to try.
There were not that many lows in this project. Probably the worst part for me was not being able to have any help editing the video, not because my group didn't want to help, but because its a one computer kind of thing. Also, when we first looked at the 3d models of our disease, most of the Chromebooks couldn't run it properly so it was harder to spot the difference between a muted protein and a non mutated protein.
There were not that many lows in this project. Probably the worst part for me was not being able to have any help editing the video, not because my group didn't want to help, but because its a one computer kind of thing. Also, when we first looked at the 3d models of our disease, most of the Chromebooks couldn't run it properly so it was harder to spot the difference between a muted protein and a non mutated protein.