Prepare a report on your favorite gene using the resources introduced in this lecture. Include the following information:
1- Identify a gene of choice and briefly describe its gene function in vivo. Is this gene associated with any human genetic condition or disease? What human chromosome is this gene localized to? Show an image of the chromosome map illustrating the locus of your gene and other linked genes? Roughly how far away is the closest gene to your gene-of-interest?
2- How large is the reference genome sequence that contains your gene? How many exons exist for your gene? How large is the mRNA?
3- Use BLAT on the UCSC genome browser and Ensembl to identify the location(s) of the exon(s) for your gene. Use the browser to show the arrangement of the exons on the chromosome. Zoom in to show the first ten amino acids of the protein produced by your gene. Show the ‘details’ of the BLAT results and at least one exon of your gene, along with a view of the 5’-splice site of the exon.
4- A thought question: You have discovered and sequenced the genomic DNA for a novel gene. You use BLAT to discover it has 5 exons. Experimentally, how will you determine whether or not this BLAT result is correct? Please give a short (1 paragraph) description of the strategy behind your experiment.
Sample Solution
