Genes, Proteins, and Disease

• Students will use normal and mutated DNA sequences to simulate/model transcription, translation, and resulting protein structure and function. Students tape together mRNA nucleotides transcribed from a DNA strip, then match tRNA templates to codons and determine the amino acid sequence represented by different colored beads. The beads are ordered on pipe cleaners and then folded into a functional protein. Students test the functionality of the normal and mutated proteins.

Items included in this lab are listed below.

Ziplock Bags, Masking Tape, Glue dots, Pipe cleaners.