1. What are the difference between a proto-oncogene and an oncogene? 2. What is the difference between c-gene and v-gene?

1. Define epigenetics in your own words. 2. Describe one epigenetic mechanism and the possible effects it has on an organism’s DNA.

11. Distinguish among silent, missense, and nonsense point mutations.

3. A recent report shows that a novel cytokine (STC) can increase the abundance of stem cells in mice's bone marrow. Boss K thinks that purified human STC can be injected into donors prior to bone marrow harvest. Worker P managed to express lots of STC in E. Coli and STC is soluble in E. Coli extract. Boss K wants Worker P to make a polyclonal antibody in rabbits and then use the antibody to purify STC in a large quantity for clinical trial. 4. How to quantify and purify bone marrow stem cells which express a stem cell marker, Sca-1 (Stem cell antigen-1) on their cell surface. List or draw the key steps and reagents.

4. The graph below was taken from a paper by Galardi et al., 2007, studying the role of two microRNAs (mIR-221 and mIR-222) in prostate cancer progression. The researchers identified that these cancerous cells have an upregulation in both mIR221 and miR 222. Use the graphs below to answer the questions A-B. Background: Panel A shows the nucleotide sequence of both miRs and a cell cycle inhibitor gene known as p27. Panel B shows protein levels of the p27 gene in three different cell lines, PC3 (a fast- growing cancer) and 22RV1 and LNCAP (two slow-growing cancers). A miR-221 3'-CUUUGGGUCGUCUGUUACAUCGA-5 ::: I : IIIII 1320-AUAGUUUUUACCUUUUAUGUAGCA -1: р27 Control miR-222 3-UCUGGGUC-AUCGGUCUACAUCGA-5 35 e P27 knock 30 down В p27 actin 48 Silvia Galardi et al. J. Biol. Chem. 2007:282-23716-23724 JBC time (h) Answer the following question(s): A. Summarize what you think the relationship between miR-221 and miR-222 with p27 in relation to the progression of cancer. B. If you were to develop…

2. A researcher attempts to repeat the experiment in which genetic engineering was used to transform cells in culture with the Xist gene. When the Xist gene was targeted to chromosome 21 in cells from a person with Down syndrome (trisomy 21), transcription of the copy of chromosome 21 containing Xist was shut down, much like the inactive X chromosome in cells from a normal female. After carrying out the experiment, the researcher measures the level of transcription averaged over a sample of genes in chromosome 21 and, as a control, measures the level of transcription of a sample of genes in chromosome 6. Shown here are several possible outcomes of such an experiment. Type of cell line Normal | 47,+21 1 47,+21 and Xist transformed 2.0 M 1.5 H K L 1.0 0.5 Chsm 6 Chsm 21 Chsm 6 Chsm 21 Chsm 6 Chsm 21 Chsm 6 Chsm 21 Chsm 6 Chsm 21 Biology: How Life Works, Third Edition O 2019 Macmillan Learning Which bar graph suggests that the experiment succeeded (that is, that the Xist gene became…

6. List the main similarities and differences between transposons, retrotransposons, group II introns, and retroviruses. Transposons Retrotransposons Group II introns Retroviruses