Unit 5 Reflection

The theme of Unit 5 was DNA and how it affects our daily lives. It went over concepts such as what DNA is, how it is replicated, how DNA is used to create proteins, as well as how genes are regulated and expressed in cells. The main understanding of this unit was to understand how DNA affects and controls our whole lives. This unit taught us how to look at the big picture of DNA and not simply what it is, but how it in fact affects our whole bodies and how are genes are expressed to create organisms. My main strength in this unit was my understanding of how DNA is used to create. Through the process of protein synthesis, in which the DNA is transcribed to RNA and then translated to proteins, DNA is changed into proteins which act as the phenotype and expression of genes. The enzyme RNA polymerase reads the DNA split strand and changes the base thymine with uracil, create a single RNA strand. The ribosome then reads the RNA strand and reads it one codon at time (pairs of 3 bases which code for a specific acid) and creates the protein. The protein synthesis lab gave a visual representation of the process which helped me to understand it and allowed me to experiment with mutations and how they affect genes. One concept I had a hard time understanding was how genes are regulated and expressed due to the complexity of the concept and how it is intertwined with protein synthesis. The diagram during the Lac opperon do now gave me a greater explanation because it provided a properly labeled visual diagram which incorporated all the vocab from this concept. My notes during the vodcast were sub par which really hurt my understanding.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_biosynthesis#/media/File:Ribosome_mRNA_translation_en.svg

I learned that it is important to look into the deeper meaning of things and their effect rather then just taking them for face value. This was seen with DNA, as I learned about the actual effects of DNA rather than just accepting that there is something called DNA. I also learned that you should be willing to ask for help, as I asked my brother to help me with the concept of protein synthesis since he has taken biology before and is a biochemistry major.

http://biosocialmethods.isr.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/central-dogma-enhanced.png

From the Vark questionnaire I learned that I am mainly a visual and reading/writing learner, which is why I have started to learn more by using notes and drawing diagrams which give me a visual representation of certain concepts. I wonder how organisms were first able to create protein and other molecules when they first evolved since they had to first create certain organelles with out these processes. I feel that I am a better student today since I truly understand DNA and how it effects organisms, rather than in 7th grade biology where I new what DNA was but what is was and how it was different than RNA.