Cytogenetics

Polyploidy in plants play a major role in evolutionary and genetic studies. Polyploidy is characterized by the presence of multiple sets of genomes in the same organism. It is one of the major causes of speciation; thus, is it plays a major evolutionary role in angiosperm development. Its genome undergoes remarkable changes in function and structure through genetic and epigenetic changes. Epigenetic changes are mediated by RNA and chromatic remodeling and occur vie regulatory pathways. Genetic…

Relapsed/Refractory Follicular Lymphoma Response Evaluation By Liji Thomas, MD Relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (FL) is a condition that requires a careful selection of treatment options. It often occurs in older people, who may have significant comorbidities, or who may have more advanced grades or stages of the cancer. Various treatment schedules are thus used in relapsed or refractory lymphoma, which must be evaluated for evidence and amplitude of response. This may begin with…

The AKT1 gene belongs to a category of genes called “oncogenes”, which can potentially cause cells to become cancerous or exhibit cancer-like qualities when mutated, depending on the type of mutation present. The exact cytogenetic location of this mutation, an activating mutation officially called “c. 49G>A, p.Glu17Lys”, is notated as 14q32.32. As stated previously, cells containing this AKT1 gene mutation are unable to regulate their own division and growth, thus leading…

Causes of Relapsed/Refractory Follicular Lymphoma By Liji Thomas, MD Follicular lymphoma (FL) is an indolent tumor of the lymphatic system which may often remain inactive for years before undergoing transformation into an aggressive tumor. After treatment, a high percentage of patients fail to respond, and these tumors are categorized as refractory lymphomas. Some respond with an initial positive change, but then develop signs of recurrent tumor, called relapsed follicular lymphoma. What…

A. Introduction Imagine yourself living with a medical condition that restricts you from eating certain foods that are rich in iron and foods that increase the absorption of iron. While it is impossible to completely avoid iron in your diet, even moderate amounts can be fatal in the long run, because your body absorbs more iron from the food that you eat than most people. For many years, hemochromatosis has been a mystery to medicine, and scientists all over the world have investigated the…

GENE REGULATION There are several different levels at which a gene’s function can be controlled: at the level of chromatin, transcription, RNA-processing, translation, and even post- translationally. There are evolutionarily relevant reasons that might explain the levels at which different genes are controlled. (3 points each) For each of the following scenarios, indicate which level of gene control you might expect a cell to use and a brief statement of why this type of control makes the most…

Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is a condition which affects the ability of adrenal glands to produce adrenaline and myelin, which insulates the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. This diminishes the ability of the brain to communicate effectively with the rest of the nerves. This condition was initially identified in the early 1900s and was originally called Schilder-Addison disease (2). The cause of this condition originates in the peroxisomes, which are tiny structures in the cell which assist…

Molly Press Level 3 Biology Achievement Standard 3.2 – Integrating biological knowledge to develop an informed response to a socio-scientific issue. The use of IVF and Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) PGD is a process that individuals go through when carrying out IVF. It’s is when they screen an embryo for a particular genetic defect that their baby could be born with. The goal for PGD is to produce a baby that is ‘healthy’; this raises questions on what is a healthy baby. The first…

protein type is a vesicle. The encoded protein may play a role in endocytic trafficking. It is associated with prostate cancer. This gene is commonly found within the cytosol and the plasma membrane of a cell. It's size is 1231 amino acids long. Its cytogenetic location is on the short, or p, arm of chromosome 2 at position 15, or 2p15, located from base pair 62,673,850 to base pair 63,046,486. Ishikawa Nagase and other scientists, in 1998, cloned a partial EHBP1 cDNA, which…

modified diet on animal health. They reported that “the results of all the parameters evaluated in our investigation were consistent and confirm that the GM diet fed to rats for 30, 60, or 90 days caused significant histopathological, biochemical, and cytogenetic changes in all examined tissues” (ORABY, Hanaa, et al). In other words, the health of the animals feeding with transgenic products for a long period has potentially adverse effect. Moreover, rats fed GM food had smaller shapes on…