Phenylthiocarbamide Lab Report

The following results helped obtain the haplogroup that in which the sequence of mtDNA would identify. The PCR reaction worked, and this can be determined by looking at the agarose gel in figure 1. If the PCR reaction was successful, than a band should appear around 550bp. Individual AC displays a band around 550bp, this means the PCR reaction was successful. The band for individual AC, depicts a low concentration of product, because the band faint. After the purification process the concentration, A260/280 ratio, and A260/A230 ratio were determined by using the nanodrop. The concentration of mtDNA in the product was 60.9 ng/uL. The ratio for A260/280 was 1.79 and the ratio for A260/230 was 0.77. The A260 and 280 are a spectrometer measurement that measure absorbance at wavelengths of

Introduction - Background - PTC stands for Phenylthiocarbamide, a chemical that can either taste very bitter, or nothing at all depending on the genetic makeup of the subject. People who can taste this are supertasters. Supertasters are people who are more sensitive to taste than others, this is linked to the tas2r38 gene. Another link to supertasting is fungiform papillae density. Fungiform papillae are club shaped parts on the tongue that a slightly raised over the rest of the tongue; they have taste buds that can distinguish between the five tastes sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami.

This lab included determining our PTC (a chemical substance causing bitter tastes) phenotype and genotypes through taste-tests and DNA-analysis. After performing my taste-test, I was unable to taste the bitterness of the PTC, so I concluded that no movement would take place in the gel electrophoresis wells.

This experiment aimed to investigate the allele frequency of the PTC taster gene (TAS2R38) in a small population, represented by the students in class. The genotype obtained from genomic analysis (via PCR and gel electrophoresis) confirmed that the genotypic result is consistent with the phenotypic result observed at the beginning of the lab.

The genotype - - in the PV92 locus could indeed have a positive affect and favored over ++ or +-. If an individual has the + allele they at least, have one ALu site. This site is a location where many mutations can appear and cause diseases or other defects (Lev-Maor,2003). For the TAS2R38 loci, being a test could have an advantage compared to non-tasters. The taste of PTC is a bitter sour taste like many acids and chemicals. This could help the survival of individuals due to their ability to taste this chemical; it could aid in protect from other bitter taste that may be harmful (Wooding,

Because human DNA is being used, participants must fill out a consent form. Gel electrophoresis will determine the success of polymerase chain reactions. Some of the DNA will be shipped to Cornell University for the Biotechnology Resource Center to sequence. Using the NCBI's BLAST search engine, sequences will be compared to those in NCBI's database to see if the right region was amplified. DNA sequence analysis will help identify SNPs and amino acid present in

The expression of phenylthiocarbamide is very questionable concept given such a diverse and vast population of people living on earth with only a 0.1 of difference genetic. Phenylthiocarbamide is white fine powder that when ingest an individual can taste bitterness or nothing. In the mouth, there is gene called TAS2R that encodes for bitter taste receptor. The experiment will test the expression of TAS2R gene using phenylthiocarbamide or PTC on a selected population of Florida International University students for the recognition of bitterness or absent. Twenty-four undergraduate students of Florida International University will be participating in the experiment where height, age, sex, and ethnicity is negligible.

When utilizing PCR-RFLP, a DNA fragment is first amplified by PCR, then it is digested by a certain restriction endonuclease to generate a restriction polymorphic profile for the test subject species (Shaw et al., 2002). PCR amplification should be highly conserved among a species so that it can be easily amplified. Each fragment length is considered an allele, and RFLP occurs when the length of a detected fragment varies between individuals.

Gene probes glow under UV light and have a fluorescent chemical attached to a short section of single stranded DNA. The chemical is then added to a DNA strand which contains a complimentary base sequence to a gene responsible for coding for a particular disease, such as cystic fibrosis. If the gene that is being looked for is present, then the gene probe will fix to it as it has the same complimentary base sequence. Once the gel is under UV light it will glow where the gene is present showing that the specific sequence is in the DNA tested. (5) Gel electrophoresis can be used to create a DNA profile for forensic purposes, paternity testing, evolutionary associations amid organisms and to look for genes associated with a

The experiment will be a total of 20 participant involved: 12 of them will be females and 8 males. Each of the participants was given a glass of water and was asked to rinse their mouth. After that, they were given one piece of cocoa and were asked to eat and describe the taste they perceived and annotate their reaction. They were related their sensation on a scale of 1 to 3, were 1 represent “no bitterness” and 5 “bitterness”. The result will be collected in a Table1. Another glass of water was given afterwards to rinse the taste of cocoa and proceed to taste a Baking Chocolate Unsweetened. Finally, the last step will be repeated on the same way with the milk chocolate. At the end of the procedure all results will be collected in the Table

It was interesting to find out that two different people can have the same meal, and while one person finds the meal to be spicy, the other can find that same meal to be completely bland and tasteless. I also learned that there are Propylthiouracil (PROP) people and there are Supertasters. People that are Prop cannot detect mildly bitter things in their food. People that are supertasters can detect even the smallest hint of bitterness in ant particular food. Scientist also found that supertasters have twice as many taste buds that anyone

III. To place some meaning to said experiments I am going to go over what the explanations to the findings are.

DNA is taken from this sample, and tested for the presence of particular genetic disorders or sex selection using one or a combination of techniques, most commonly including Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR - Enzymes are used in controlled DNA replication to create countless copies of a particular sequence fragment, to be examined with gel electrophoresis) and Fluorescence In Situ Hybridisation (FISH - Fragments of known and marked (for visualisation) strands of unbonded DNA are added to a sample

Materials used to conduct this experiment were fruit flavored jelly beans which flavors consisted of lime, orange, pear, cherry and banana. 15 participants were randomly assigned to 3 groups of 5 participants. Before conducting the experiment, test subjects took a brief survey to see if they had any allergies to any types of fruit and/or sensitivity to sugar or food dyes. The control group was given a sample of each of the jelly beans and they had the ability to smell, feel, and look at what they were ingesting. The experimental groups followed the same procedure with an exception of closing their eyes as they tasted the jelly beans to see if they could predict the flavor. Each flavor of jelly beans was dispensed into 15 small Dixie cups for

As people, we all have our preferences in food. We won't all like the same food and it might not feel the same on our taste buds and a lot of it has to do with our brain , the signals that get sent, and the way we process information. At various times in our lives, our behaviors and attitudes towards food will change, our preferences will alter however, many times it happens due to certain disorders and changes in our sense of taste, sense of smell and our guts mechanism. Most of us are not aware of smell and taste disorders as they are not life threatening, unless they are happening to us. Smell and taste disorders are conditions that result in a decrease, absence or even distortion in the sense of taste and smell.