Biotechnology COPY Flashcards
Recombinant DNA Technology
Recombinant DNA technology involves the joining of different kinds of DNA
Depends on restriction enzymes and plasmids
Recombinant DNA Technology 2
involves joining DNA from different sources, it is the combining in recombinant that is helpful in remembering it, so it may have DNA from a human and DNA from Ecoli so from two different sources*
the technology depends a lot on restriction enzymes for cutting DNA and plasmids as a way to move the new DNA into a new cell*
- you are putting dna together from difference sources and you are doing this by enzymes*
Restriction enzymes
Restriction enzymes are from bacteria, very specific molecular cutting tools usually cut at a palindromic site*
Normally digest bacteriophage DNA as a defense mechanism
Each restriction enzyme is an endonuclease that cuts DNA at a specific sequence
Restriction site is usually palindromic (e.g., 5’-GAATTC-3’)
Restriction digest leaves “sticky” ends that pair with complementary ends
With ligase, can paste together two pieces of DNA cut with same restriction enzyme
When you cut with restriction enzymes makes a jaggidy cut on green DNA, the grey dna source maybe cut out of another human genome, and that grey dna represents a gene for insulin or whatever* secret here is that the green dna or grey dna is cut with the same restriction enzymes they will have complimentary ssticky ends, they have potential then to hydrogen bond and stick together in teh way that is being shown with grey stuck in green areas** piee at bottom with some green and some grey is a piece of recombinant DNA***
Enzymes naturally occuring in bacteria, defend bacteria aganist viruses because they chop up dna and we are more interested in them for a tool for biotech** they are used for precision scissors** imagine green dna is part of a plasmid, great for storing nucelic acid***
palindrome strand
same left to right as right to left
“Madam I am adam”
only see palindrome if consider two strands, so left to right on oen strand and right to left on teh other strand in that same region* on MCAT when they giveyou DNA sequences and they ask you to identify a restriction site, they are always asking you to find a palindrome, nt every restriction site in life is palindromic but on MCAT taht is what they are intersted in*
Restriction enzymes 2
- cuts at a specific site on both strands for ex btw A and G
- get sticky ends, sticky ends because can hydrogen bond to complimentary letters, idea is if take same restriction enzymes and cut some other piece of DNA with it, you woud get a fragment that has complimentary sticky ends, to draw what that may look like you may have a piece that can fit in there
- long overhang pieces are the same so can fit together like a puzzle piece; the purple piece is a common example if imagine green is DNA in an ecoli. bacterium and hte purple is the human gene for insulin, so for instance you can take an ecoli bacterium cut it with a restriction enzymes and then you can take the human genome, cut it with the same restriction enzyme and cut it with a chunk that includes the gene for insulin and then you just happen to have these cut sites around it, and if that is the cse* then this combined piece; represents recombinant dna human gene for insulin is inserted into bacterial dna* why you want to do this is you have bacterial cells that will produce insulin human protein and this is actually how most insulin as people with diabetes use is produced, they are factories that have tanks of recombinant bacteria and the bacteria has been modified in exactly this way so that each cell contains a human gene for insulin so those cells that is what hte factory is doing, the bacterial cells are pumping out insulin all day long and that insulin is gathered up and purified and packaged for people with diabetes*
- the idea is that if they are cut with molecular scissors all cut with same restriction enzymes so have ends complimentary to eachother and have ends that will fit together*
- so cut with restriction enzymes, so complimentary sequences can find eachother and then last thing you need is ligase to seal the fragments together so idea is that if you want to put a new piece of DNA into a bacterial cell, the easiest way to do this is to cut (if keep going with insulin ex) insert into bacterial plasmid*** so bacterial cells have plasmid which is another loop of dna in this case will be a piece of recombinant DNA and has its main chromosome
- recombinant plasmid containing oru gene of interest, in this case the gene of insulin, once above cutting is done and recombinant plasmid exists it can be put into bacterial cell!
Gene cloning 1
top part of diagram makign recombinant plasmid
bottom part is how it is put into a cell
having a bacteria cell that has recombinant plasmid can be used to make a protein, would go great in a factory for humn insulin, if you had a bunch of these all day long they would pump out insulin; so now when you have this bacterial cell drawn here, part of its DNA besides its main chromosome of bacterium it also has this other loop of DNA inside of hte bacterial cell, the bacterial cell will express those genes also** so recombinant plasmid containing the gene for insulin we can say the cell will express this dna and make insulin* let bacteria divide and everything and replicates and then you have thousands of cells all with thsi recominant plasmid, the plasma that has the gene for human insulin. You can use the plasmid as a way for storing that extra dna for studying
so you can use this to produce insulin like an assembly line, you can also use plasmids to store DNA** so storing DNA is kind of tricky it is not that easy to work with DNA but you can put it if you have a fragment you want to study later or a lot of fragments you want to study can use fragmetns as shelving unit, put this method of fragments in plasmid and comeback to them later* Can get them to pump out insulin and sell it to ppl who has diabetes, how insulin is made for ppl with diabetes factories that consist of big vats containing cells made exactly this way, plasmid is mostly bacterial dna, but gene for human insulin is in there so let bacteria divide everything gets copied and then you get hte cells to express the gene* so the cells, these bacteria cells start acting as the assembly line and they make all this insulin you can harvest and cell. Cells code for protein so make protein and can use it
recombinant dna= dna mistched and matched fron human and bacteria, to get it from human have to use a restriction enzyme to cut it out* if cut the human dna and hte bacteria dna with the same restriction enzymes have jaggidy sticky ends that will be complimentary to eachother* so that is the key whtever the two things are that are together cut them out fo their locations usign the same restriction enzymes
so when we store a lot of DNA in plasmids, it is called a DNA library*
Genomic library
Genomic library = segments of initial genome carried by plasmids in cloned cells
Can contain all DNA from original genome
the difference btw this and other library is has ALL THE genes vs mrna obviously not all genes?
like genomic library of chimp genome, or human genome can compare sepcies and their dna by comparing everything in the genomic libraries, becuase itsi basically like everything in the genome of the organism. ABOUT STORING DNA*
“carried by plasmids in cloned cells”= when you put a gene into a plasmid, cut plasmid with restriction enzyme cut gene with restriction enzyme and allow them to stick together/put together*
now this whole thing is called recombinant plasmid, recominant word just suggests there is dna there from two original soruces adn in this case the plasmid DNA and green dna* from human cell, now put recominanbt plasmid into a cell, now refered to as a recombinant bacteiral cell saying it is carrying a plasmid, or it contains a palsmid and as the cell divides and makes copies you get copies of the plasmid –> from library point of view this is a way of storing DNA, plasma are storing units, can popul a piece of dna in it to store it and then can study it so can use to study* the gene of interest* so that is one optionto make protein from gene of interst, if gene for insulin flwing path to the right what happens is these cells are used to produce insulin on a mass scale, so they are stimulated to do transcription/translatopon of that gene and that results in a lot of insulin being pumped out
Complementary (cDNA) library
complimentary DNA is made from mRNA*** using reverse transcriptase, cDNA by definition was dna made using reverse transcriptase from mRNA**
Complementary (cDNA) library made from mRNA (using reverse transcriptase); what we are saying now is that our starting material was mRNA in a cell and gathered up at a particular moment in time the RNA was collected and then reversed transcribed to make cDNA and then the cDNA was put into a plasma library*
Contains DNA expressed in cell from which mRNA was isolated
Does not contain introns or regulatory regions
Useful for studying types of genes expressed in particular tissue type like brain
this is NOT ALL THE DNA OF HTE CELL, if think about how much dna is in cell, not all of it gets made into mRNA there are the regulatory regions all kinds of stuff never transcribed so if you start with mRNA you are getting much less dna then you would in a genomic library but you are also getting a differnet kind of infromation getting info about which genes are being expressed inside the cell, the main reason people get excited about that is becuse it allows you to compare tissues or organs within teh same species, so if looked at cDNA library that came from all mrna genes being expressed in pacnrease vs genes being expressed in teh brain or skin if you have made genomic libraries from a brain cell, skin cell, etc all have exactly the same dna from same person so wouldn’t tell you anything about different gene types, but if start with mRNA can tell you which dna is actyually being expressed
TRANSGENIC ORGANISMS
Have had genes from other species inserted into their genomes
Viral vectors can be used to insert genes of interest
Can create organisms whose entire genomes create transgenes
Add genes of interest into germ-line cells, which → eggs and sperm
Add genes by injection (for flies) or electroporation (for animal cells)
Electroporation = jolt of electricity opens pores in cell membrane, DNA enters
Environmental applications: e.g., bacteria modified to clean-up oil spills, transgenic orngaims is when they talk about genetically modified food etc**
Agricultural applications: e.g., golden rice, make vitamin A
GMOs = genetically modified organisms. Concern about modified genomes escaping
Transgenic organisms 2
you can put a gene from one organism into another random organism, v famous to put green fluorecent protein a gene from jelly fish as proof of concept put gene for GFP into all these different animals
if put a gene from one species into another can get recipient to express a gene or protein it would not naturally make
- means has its own DNA as well as at least one gene or piece of DNA from another organism* for ex the insulin ex we were talking about is transgenic bacteria so has bacetria’s dna and human dna*
transgenic organism- original one from organism adn another gene from another organism ex. gene for spider silk into genes of goats to produce spier silk in their milk, those are transgenic goats have whole goat genome and then one gene for spider silk - that is what a transgenic organism is, then how did you get that gene for silk into the cells of the goats, how did you get to the point expressing silk protein. You need a delivery system and that is what a vector is, you need a way to get transgene into host organism, viruses can wheazle their way into cells and hijact machinery of reproduction os in creation gf transgenic organisms or biotech strategy to take new gene put on virus, virus is a vector meaning any delivery system to get new gene into cell* using a virus** b/c virus will go into the cell so can hook your gene of interest onto the virus
vector= tool for delivering dna, Rna into the cell*
Electroporation =
= jolt of electricity opens pores in cell membrane, DNA enters; membrane becomes pour so can sneak dna in
about how have new piece of dna how do you get it into a cell
Gene therapy
Goal = to deliver wild-type genes to patients with recessive genetic disorders, so goal is to deliver a good allele to someone with two copies of a bad allele* like tay sachs or some example of a recessive genetic disorder, at a locus they have two bad alleles so goal is to deliver one good allele and hope the individual’s cells will express that good allele and make the protein that wasn’t being made properly*
*conseguinity* fancy word for incest production of offpsring for incest and cousins called a consegunitiy
Supply a “good” allele to compensate for the two mutant alleles the person has
Viral vectors typically are used
-if actual theraputic situation* if have two bad copies for a gene important in a metabolic pathway and you put in and expose them to a good copy of the gene, the good allele and you hope it goes into teh right place and you hope it gets expressed only way to know is if their symptoms go down, can make thsi protein couldnt make before and often protein in question is an enzyme can break down someting they could not break down before* how you would assess whether the gene therapy is working*
tons of metabolic diseases where they have a bad allele for something, some homozgous recessive genetic disorders where tehy actualy have two bad alleles and cannot make a protein say some enzyme that they need for metabolism** idea is if you can make a good allele for them, very easy to do that in a test tube, hard part is to get it into their bodies and get them to express allele, goal of gene therapy is to do that, if someone doesn’t have a good copy of an allele to give them one and try to deliver it to their cells and get their cells to make whatever enzyme the person is not normally able to make* and therefore to cure them of whatever disease; many experiments and efforts for a really long time, the hardest part is getting the gene into the cell and getting it ot be expressed properly** ppl have used viruses as vectors or delivery systems, all kinds of nanoparticles now being used to delivery bits of DNA to cells* for our purpsoes to understand the goal if someone has a disease becuse they do not have a functioning allele for a certain thing you want to give htem a copy of a good allele and get their cells to express the protein
REPORTER GENES AND PROTEINS
Reporter gene is attached to the promoter of the gene of interest
Regulated in the same way as the gene of interest
Often used to study patterns of expression (spatial or temporal)
Reporter gene’s product should be easy to detect
Should not usually be present in the system
Example: green fluorescent protein
Example: luciferase (lights up)
Reporter genes and proteins 2
- This lets you know if gene you care about is in the cell
- so link your gene to green flourescent protein, go in together and if cell lights up with green FP then can assume your gene is being expressed also. Valid assumption you see in excets for MCAT arrticles, expression of reproter gene have high expression of green high expression of your gene to get into the cell***
- if trying to put a gene into a cell, idea is that then if you have your gene that is linked together with luciferase, then it is very obvious if you successfully put them into a new cell becuase the cell will light up so term reporter gene is good, luciferase is the reporter gene tells you whether your experiment worked or not, so this is used as a reporter gene, then if luciferase plus the thing you are trying to put in the cell actually went in the cell it lights up
also green flurescent protein is big reporte,r gene trying to get into the cell went it; the point is that it is very very easy to see if they are there, they are not normally there and you can easily tell if they are
BOTH LIGHTS UP, if gene gets expressed very easy to see that is the goal with a reporter gene
Polymerase chain reaction
DNA replication performed in vitro
Can produce billions of copies of a given sequence
DNA strands are separated at high-temperatures
Requires use of Taq polymerase, which is heat-resistant; special form of DNA polymerase that will not be denatured by heat becuase doing all these hot and cold cycles, makes a complimentary strand
Requires sequence specific DNA primers (not RNA primers, as in vivo)
Primers with more cytosines and guanines bind more successfully (more H bonds)
Step 1: Raise temperature to 95°C
• Denatures the DNA, making it single-stranded and thus open to binding primers
Step 2: Lower temperature to 55°C
• Allows DNA primers to anneal (bind) to specific sequences on exposed strands
Step 3: Raise temperature to 75°C
- Allows for rapid polymerization of new DNA complementary to each of the strands
- Taq polymerase, isolated from thermophilic archaea, extends the DNA from primers
Cycle repeats > 30×, to yield billions of copies of DNA
Polymerase chain reaction 2
what are the best primers?
very very efficient way to go from small DNA sample to huge, exponentialy increasing amount of DNA
exponential increase in the amount of DNA
THE BEST PRIMERS have more G and C** because G and C stick best to DNA becuase they have three hydrogen bonds than two, if designing perfect primer want more G and C vs A and T which form two hydrogen bonds but G and C form 3 hydrogen bonds to complimentary so they are hte best primers*
PCR does not copy….
DOES not copy any markings on the DNA or acetly groups on the DNA
You lose any epigenetic information you are just copying the DNA itself so depending on what people want ot study it may not always be the perfect technique**
electrophoresis
Can separate molecules (DNA, RNA, protein) based on size BIG PICTURE
Run molecules through a sieve-like gel in an electric field
Big molecules move slower, small molecules move quicker
Example: can see change in protein size (e.g., due to nonsense mutation)
For proteins, separation is based on size and charge
Proteins can also be coated in negative charge using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)
With SDS, separation of proteins is based on size ONLY
SDS → breaks weak bonds, denaturing protein. SDS does not break disulfide bonds
Gel run “under reducing conditions” → breaks disulfide bonds
Gel run “under non-reducing conditions” → does not break disulfide bonds
Urea → breaks hydrogen bonds and other weak bonds
Higher or lower pH → disrupts electrostatic interactions
electrophoresis 2
gel, dna negatively charged so have positive end of the gel be below look on image.
Running it through a gel, DNA is negatively charged will move to positive end and bigger pieces of DNA will get slowed down more by the gel, if you run the gel for a certain amount of itme fragments that have gotten further from starting point will be smaller ones so separatign based on size*** TRUE FOR RNA AS WELL!
DNA fragments will move through gel and you get a banding pattern, separating according to size, this is a smaller fragment the other is a larger fragment, and then can think about the DNA having to move through this very thick material so thes smaller pieces can get through more and farther*
Another way to visualize thsi is to blot it onto a surface, you can do a southern blot for DNA
electrophoresis for RNA and protein 3
can do the same thing with RNA called a northern blot, which is still negatively charged
and protein can do it as well, protein can do native page* which is not messing with the protein; so do not denature the protein, and then fragments separate by size and also by charge* whereas DNA and RNA are JUST by size, proteins can be by size and charge
blotting is how you analyze it, meaning you take antibodies that will attack the different specific protein fragments and tell you what you have
Blotting
Southern blot: run DNA through gel, analyze with hybridization
Northern blot: run RNA through gel, analyze with hybridization
Western blot: run protein through gel, analyze with antibodies
analyze with hybridization= other way you can tell, say you wanted to know more about what is in this DNA fragment, you can create a complimentary piece of DNA called a probe and wash it over the gel and see if it sticks* and if it sticks that means it is complimentary to what is on the gel and that means you knwo what sequence is on teh cell, so a way of using probe and technique of hybridization of what is on the gel*
PAGE with SDS
- coats protein with lots of negative charge, and then the separation is JUST based on size, because there is so much negative charge that the amount of charge is just proportional to the size so you are really separating according to size
- if run gel “under reducing conditions” break disulfide bonds
- if run the gel “under nonreducing conditions” means you KEEP disulfide bonds*
so you can run the PAGE with SDS under either condition of reducing or nonreducing, either/or condition** how this really comes up when have proteins that have subunits* so lets just say that for proteins with subunits*
Ex. of proteins separating with subunits
- if the only bonds between subunits are weak bonds, meaning not covalent like hydrogen bonds or hydrophobic interactions then SDS** will break the subunits apart* so SDS will interfere if you think about what could coating something with a ton of negative charge disrupt it /could disrupt everything except for covalent bonds**
- if there are disulfide bonds between the subunits, the subunits will only separate if the gel is run under reducing conditions so have to wait for that language*
- so whether subunits stay together or not ends up determining how many bands appear on the gel and how big they are, so fr an example, there are a lot of examples on problem set want to talk about a couple of them at least
- for an example if you have a homodimer, means 2 subunits that are the same size* and say the whole thing is 60 kDa and say this is the native page and you get a band representing 60 kDa
- SDS PAGE- breaks subunits apart if it is a homodimer and hte two subunits are the same as eachother then they both have to be 30 since they are hte same as eachother you would only get one band, same band for 30 kDa= get two subunits broken apart at 30 on top of each other
example heterodimer
we assume no disulfide bonds, otherwise the SDS would not break hte subunits apart because covalent bonds are not disrupted by SDS
- native page get 60 kDa one 40 kDa and one 20 kDa
- for SDS page, now you get a 40 kDa and a 20 kDa so you would get two separate bands** the homodimer is more tricky becuase exactly on top of eachother so that it looks like one band versus two bands*
Page
polyacrilmide gel electrophoresis an acronym for electrophoresis, just the name of the gel*