I Got the Death Gene. Oh Well.

Intro

Dna disease gene testing- What is it? Why do it? And how do we do it? These questions arise when one is asked about the controversial procedure of testing individuals genes to see if they are pron to disease. Why we might want to test our DNA is that it can give insight to how healthy we are going to be in the future and if we can take necessary steps to prevent the exacerbation of the disease.

Process

First we need to extract our own DNA. We take our cheek cells and transfer them into a tube with InstaGene matrix beads which kill the DNAse that would kill our DNA after the cell membrane was destroyed ina hot water bath. We need to understand if we are going to do DNA gene testing is what PCR is. PCR is Polymerase Chain Reaction which helps us produce large amount of DNA in a test tube from just a trace amount. The steps in PCR include:

1. Denaturation (separation of two strands of DNA by temperatures of around 94 to 98 degrees Celsius)

2. Annealing (binding of DNA primer to the separated strands. Occurs at 50 to 65 degrees Celsius, which is lower than the optimal temperature of the DNA polymerases)

3. Elongation (elongation of the strands using the DNA primer with heat-stable DNA polymerases, most frequently Taq (Thermus aquaticus) or Pfu (Pyrococcus furiosus) polymerases. Occurs at over 70 degrees Celsius)

 Then Gel Electro- of which there can either be expressed genes, carriers, and non expressed.

Results
Both Maddie and I showed the "disease" gene, while Sonia did not. So possible sources of error might include our messy pipetteing skills, the fact that Sonia and I accidentally mixed ours up and there is no way of knowing if i actually had the disease gene or Sonia did.