Lesson 1

Question 1

Synthetic Biology

Answer 1

• Craig Venter: made the first completely synthetic bacterial cell, genome was synthetic
• bacteria was able to grow and self-replicate with only 473 genes

Question 2

Affordable Genome Sequencing

Answer 2

• under 1000 dollars to sequence a genome - used to be over 100 000 in 2001
• allows us to explore the genomes and transcriptomes of any species or individual

Question 3

Cell manipulation / Gene editing

Answer 3

• Charpentier and Doudna won the nobel prize in 2020 for CRISPR/Cas9 “genetic scissors” that allow easy editing of any genome
• cell manipulation can be used to for example bring back the woolly mammoth by editing the cells of an elephant
• could be used to genetically edit a pig kidney so it can be transplanted into humans

Question 4

who was david baker ?

Answer 4

• In 2003 David Baker succeeded in using A.A. “blocks” to design a new protein that was unlike any other protein. Baker used computer-based methods which he had developed
• AI model called AlphaFold2 is able to predict the structure of virtually all known proteins

Question 5

when were microscopes discovered?

Answer 5

1660! Robert Hooke was the curator for the royal society of London

Question 6

How was the term cell born?

Answer 6

Cork thought that what they were seeing in the microscopes looked like cells - the term cell was born

Question 7

who was Antonie van Leeuwenhoek?

Answer 7

A Dutch textile merchant who made many microscopes and looked at everything - founded “animalcules” he recorded his findings with drawings and detailed letters of his observations

Question 8

what did Schleiden and Schwann add to Cell Theory in 1838?

Answer 8

Schleiden and Schwann
- All organisms are composed of one or more cells
- The cell is the structural unit of life

Question 9

What was added to cell theory in 1855?

Answer 9

Virchow added that cells can only arise by division from a pre-existing cell

Question 10

Two classes of cells are?

Answer 10

Prokaryotic (“before nucleus”) and eukaryotic (“true nucleus”)

Question 11

Prokaryotic cells are…

Answer 11

Bacteria, Archaea
- evolved around 2.7 billon years ago
- no membrane bound nucleus
- single circular chromosome
- cytoplasm mostly devoid of membranous strutures
- 1-5 micrometers

Question 12

Eukaryotic cells are…

Answer 12

protists, yeast, fungi, plants, animals
- bigger than prokaryotes
- evolved more recently about 2 billion years ago