Synthetic biology midterm 1

Standardized parts

allows assembly of more complex systems

What is synthetic biology also known as?

Engineering biology and biodesign

What is a plasmid?

Natural small self-replicating pieces of DNA

What is the importance of the Lac operon?

was the first description of how genes work

What is transcription?

DNA to RNA

What is translation?

mRNA to protein

First principles

the fundamental concepts or assumptions on which a theory, system, or method is based, "good enough"

Cooperative Interactions

binding of transcription factors to DNA and binding of a molecule (ligand) to a protein

What is the importance of Digital definitions?

allows one to filter out noisy input so small or transient signal and does not affect the output

Why is digital definitions import to synthetic biology?

You can do genetic circuit design

logic gate "and"

needs A and B to work

logic gate "or"

needs A or B to work

logic gate "nor"

if A or B is present it will not work

What are amino acids made from?

Proteins

What is the major controller of gene expression?

Transcription

What is nuclease

It is an enzyme that catalyzes direct reaction and CAS 9 binds and cuts DNA.

What is the gRNA?

directs the enzyme to the right target

What is CAS-9?

A protein that cleave pieces of DNA

Gene drives

is the phenomenon in which the inheritance of a particular gene or set of genes is favorably biased. Gene drive can arise through a variety of mechanisms and results in its prevalence increasing in a population.

-only function in sexually reproducing organisms

What is dcas-9

(deficient) Eliminates that ability of Cas9 to cut or nick DNA

What is dual use?

any technology which can satisfy more than one goal at any given time (ex: nuclear tech can make energy and powerful bombs).

What is ELSI?

Ethical, legal and societal implications work

Biosafety

safety of human and environment from unintentional release of pathogenic microorganisms and biohazards. Including hazards to environment

Biosecurity

The protection of human and environment from intentional release of biohazards by an individual.

Transhumansim

Humans can be improved through vast ways with technology

Cell cycle phases

G1- growth

S- DNA synthesis

G2- growth and preparation for mitosis

M- mitosis (cell division)

NHEJ (non-homologous end joining)

non homologous end joining

HDR (homology directed repair)

homology directed repair

Xenotrasnplant

pigs provide means to grow organs for human

Host RNA interfernce (RNAi)

to degrade the problematic RNA

Horizontal gene transfer

Plasmid DNA being transferred between bacteria

Haber bosch process

Energy intensive process from nitrogen pollution

What does gene turn on relate to?

The promoter that cam function to keep genes off

What does genes regulating production of mRNA and Translation?

5'UTR that can regulate translation in the ocding region

What does the place where something is being encoded (proteins) called?

coding region

What is the place were you regulate how long RNA stays around?

3' UTR that has little control for how long the RNA stays around

What is the turn off gene called?

Transcriptional terminator or stop codon that can be one component or have things overlap

How can we program life?

Design gene circuits for the function we want.

postive control

Increases the frequency of initiation of transcription.

Negative control

Decreases the frequency of transcription initiation

Does eukaryotic gene expression leak?

Yes it does

Eugenics

The science of improving human population by controlled breeding or genetic engineering to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics.

Mosaic embryo

Embryos made up of mutant repaired and really messed up nhej cells

Where is gene correction inserted?

m phase