Kmill104 Week 2

Purpose

The purpose of this assignment was to examine how specific color expression is determined in flowers. This was done by looking through the multiple scientific lenses of molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics. Specifically, this assignment is meant to show that a precise amino acid sequence is necessary for a desired phenotypic result.

Method/Results

Protocol

Our first step was to start Aipotu and select the "Biochemistry" tab. We then practiced writing an amino acid sequence by using the individual letters, and then clicking "Fold" to see how our sequence folded. We examined each flower that was already present in the greenhouse and documented their sequence in our question responses below. We discovered additional colors by selecting the "Genetics" tab and either self-crossing one organism or crossing two organisms. Through this process, we were able to find blue, yellow, purple, orange, and black in addition to the preset green, red, and white flowers. We then observed the differences between their amino acid sequences to determine what amino acids a sequence must have to express any color besides white. By testing the different combinations of these amino acids we were able to find the sequence for a purple flower.

Question Responses

a. Which proteins are found in each of the four starting organisms?

• Green-1: MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValTyrTrpArgGln
• Green-2: Combination of two alleles

1. Blue allele has MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValTyrCysArgGln
2. Yellow allele has Trp replacing Tyr from the Blue allele

• Red: MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValPheCysArgGln
• White: MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValValCysArgGln

b. List the allele, color, and amino acid sequence

• allele: Green, color: Green, sequence: MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuVal(TyrTrp)ArgGln
• allele: Blue, color: Blue, sequence: MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuVal(TyrCys)ArgGln
• allele: Yellow, color: Yellow, sequence: MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuVal(TrpCys)ArgGln
• allele: Red, color: Red, sequence: MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuVal(PheCys)ArgGln
• allele: White, color: White, sequence: MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuVal(ValCys)ArgGln
• allele: Purple, color: Purple, sequence: MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuVal(TyrPhe)ArgGln

any difference in amino acid sequence is in parantheses

c. What features of a protein make it colored? A protein must contain at least one aromatic amino acid which increases the amount of alternating double bonds in the protein structure, allowing for a greater absorbance of UV light. A higher absorbance of UV light means the amino acids will then fluoresce and express some color.

d. What features of the amino acid sequence make a protein a particular color? The aromatic amino acids must be in a specific position of the amino acid sequence to ensure its interactions with the amino acids around it will still result in color expression. In the examples above, the aromatic amino acid can only be found in the 10th position, the 11th position, or in both. If there is a disruption at other positions of the sequence, this may interfere with how the peptide sequence interacts and color could not be expressed even though an aromatic amino acid is present.

e. How do the colors combine to produce an overall color? How does this explain the genotype-phenotype rules you found in part (I)?

f. Show your purple protein and explain why it is purple

Acknowledgements

I worked with my homework partner Charlotte Kaplan User:Ckapla12 to complete this assignment. We met one time outside of class and we texted twice to ask questions about the questions from the packet.

References

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User Page

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Assignment Pages

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