Protein to Disease

We were instructed to find a disease that we were interested in to was caused by a protein misfolding error in the gene. Our group chose Alexander's Disease (for obvious reasons). It is a rare brain disorder.

Phenotypic Trait - A distinct variant of a phenotypic characteristic of an organism. It is how the gene gets expressed and what it affects. This helped with the completion of the project because it displayed what the affected gene did to the body physically, mentally, or internally. This can connect to populations in our society. People from similar areas/conditions typically have similar mutations unlike any other regions.

DNA Replication - The process by which DNA makes a copy of itself during cell division. It is done using helicase (to unzip) and RNA to complete. This helped with the completion of the project because it shows how DNA is copious in the cell and how error can occur. This also shows how math is incorporated because the RNA is segmented, inserted, and deleted to fit the DNA.

DNA - Also known as deoxyribonucleic acid, is the carrier of genetic information that is present in all living things. It tells the cell how to function and what to do. This helped with the completion of the project because the protein disease is caused by a DNA error and we needed to understand how DNA works before we could understand how it can become malformed. While calculating nucleotides, we used math with the division of three and statistics with the disease.

Transcription - A particular segment of DNA is copied into RNA by the enzyme RNA polymerase. The DNA is copied onto a separate RNA strand. This helped with the completion of the project because it is a big part in the chain of protein folding. This shows the elements of living things.

mRNA - Also known as messenger RNA, it is a single-stranded RNA molecule that is complementary to one of the DNA strands of a gene. This helped with the completion of the project because it is one of the main components of transcription and translation.

Translation - The process in which ribosomes in the cell synthesize proteins after the process of transcription of DNA to RNA in the cell's nucleus. This makes proteins from amino acid chains (polypeptides). This helped with the completion of the project because it shows how the mRNA goes from translation to protein.

Protein Folding - The process by which a protein structure becomes its three dimensional functional shape. This is how the protein is created. It is a chain of polypeptides. This helped with the completion of the project because it shows how when these proteins are being binded and shaped, they can become malformed.

Protein Misfolding - When the process by which a protein structure becomes its three dimensional functional shape, does not shape out as expected. This makes the gene defective and function incorrectly. This helped with the completion of the project because it showed how the GFAP gene became malformed to the carrier of Alexander's disease.

I feel that our work is very good. I did not feel confident in speaking about this topic previously, but using my communication skills, I figured out the process of protein synthesis from our teacher. What went poorly was the fact that we had two members instead of three. Another downfall of our group early on, was our time management skills. We messed around in the beginning. However, we made up for this lost time by staying in late and finishing this project at home.

One thing I learned about myself is that I should work on my time management. This is something I have always had a problem with. I mostly finish projects on time with great production. Yet, I could utilize the time in class to work instead of staying up late at home. One new skill I gained was understanding, cultural competence in a sense. These people are effected by something that is not their own fault. They can not control their DNA. Being more educated on diseases like this really helps with basic morality principles and I feel that every should learn about diseases.

I will continue to improve on time management. As said above, I should not let myself be distracted by other people in order to finish work in class. Another thing I could have done better is utilized last year's presentation skills and interwoven them with this year. Our presentation has all the points it needs to hit but its kinda meh.