SNORK Translation Simulation

How Does DNA Determine the Traits of an Organism?

Introduction: In this simulation, you will examine the DNA sequence of a fictitious organism - the Snork. Snorks were discovered on the planet Dee Enae in a distant solar system. Snorks only have one chromosome with ten genes on it. Your job is to analyze the genes of its DNA and determine what traits the organism has and then sketch the organism (You can be creative here).

For simplicity, the gene sequences are much smaller than *real* gene sequences found in living organisms. Each gene has two versions (alleles) that result in a different trait being expressed in the snork.

Each of the DNA samples was taken from volunteer Snorks. Your job is to analyze each DNA sample and determine the phenotype (how the organism looks) based on the sequence. You will do this by (1) transcribing each DNA sequence to mRNA, and then (2) translating the mRNA codons into amino acids. Remember that in mRNA, AUG is a start codon (amino acid = met), and it signifies the beginning of each gene. The stop codons that signify the end of a gene are UAA, UAG and UGA. The genes are in order from Gene 1 to Gene 10. Your teacher may assign you one or all of the samples to analyze.

Snuffle Snork

TAC CAA AGA AAT ATT TAC ATG GGT GTT GTC TTC ACT TAC GAG GAT AGC CGC ATC TAC CAA CGA CCC ACT TAC GTA TAA ATT TAC AGA GGC CAA ATC TAC TTG TAT GGT ACC GGT TGC ATC TAC CTA CTA TTG TCC ACT TAC TAC AAA TCA ACT TAC GCT ATG ACA CCT ATT

Snapple Snork

TAC CAG AGG TTT ATC TAC CAT GGC TGT GGA TTT ACT TAC GAT AAG AAC GGG ATT TAC CGT CAT CAC ATC TAC GTA GTG ATC TAC CAG AAA ATG ACT TAC TTA TAG GAC GAT GGG TGC ATT TAC CAG TTA TTG TCT ATC TAC AAA AAG GTG ACT TAC GCG TAC TGG GGC ACT

Snoopy Snork

TAC CAG AGG TTT ATC TAC ATG GGT GTC GTC TTC ACT TAC GAG GAT AGC CGC ATC TAC CGT CAT CAC ATC TAC GTA GTG ATC TAC AGA GGC CAA ATC TAC TTG TAT GGT ACC GGT TGC ATC TAC CAG TTA TTG TCT ATC TAC AAA AAG GTG ACT TAC GCT ATG ACA CCT ATT