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TASK 1 - EXPLORING MOLECULAR EVOLUTION: USING BIOINFORMATICS TO INFER EVOLUTIONARY RELATIONSHIPS
AUTHORS
Jacinta Duncan – The Gene Technology Access Centre
DESCRIPTION OF TASK
In this task students use Biology WorkBench to run sequence alignments for the coding region of beta globin genes from a variety of species. They use alignments to explore sequence conservation and then construct phylogenetic trees using Biology WorkBench. Students learn to read these phylogenetic trees to infer evolutionary relationships between species. The importance of using molecular phylogenetic trees in conjunction with other methods for inferring evolutionary relatedness is discussed.
Link to VCE Biology
Unit 4: Outcome 1Molecular genetics:
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Genome, gene expression; genes as units of inheritance
- Principle events in transcription and translation
Unit 4: Outcome 2
- Evidence for evolution: molecular evidence
- Evolutionary relationships: conservation of genes; genome phylogeny
SAC for Outcome 2: An oral or written report that demonstrates evolutionary relationships using first- or second-hand data.
BACKGROUND
The area of genomics has opened up new studies and research opportunities in determining evolutionary relationships between species using molecular evolution. Using free web based bioinformatics programs students can run sequence alignments and construct phylogentic trees to observe the conservation of nucleotides in the genes coding for a protein such as beta globin.
The Instructional Power Point presentation introduces this activity and provides links to beta globin sequences and The Biology WorkBench used in this task. The PowerPoint presentation and student activity should be completed in a single lesson (60 mins) with extra time required to finish discussion questions either at home or as a SAC task.
MATERIALS
1. PowerPoint presentation to lead you through this exercise.
2. Student Worksheet - Teachers copy this for students
3. Student Instructions - Teachers copy this for students
2. Biology WorkBench - available from the URL address http://workbench.sdsc.edu/.
3. Beta globin gene sequences (coding region only)
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