Ckaplan Week 2

Lab report Week 2:

Aipotu II: Biochemistry

Purpose:

The purpose of this Aipotu learning lab: Biochemistry: was to explore the expression of alleles in flowers through self and cross breeding a multitude of colors. The colors of the flowers included red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and black. The job of my lab partner and I was to find the amino acid sequence that coded for and produced a purple flower.

Combined Methods/Results (Electronic Lab Notebook):

• Notes:

Writing the individual letters of the amino acids and clicking fold made each colored allele combination.

• Blue 1 and Red 1 crossed made purple flowers.
• Yellow 1 and Purple 1 crossed made orange.
• Red and green 1 made black
• Green and Red made Purple.
• Yellow and Red made all orange.
• Yellow and white makes all yellow.
• Green and white makes a mix of blue and yellow.

True breeding alleles: Green 1, white, red, yellow, blue- alleles for the colors

True breeding:

CgCg green CrCr red CwCw white CbCb blue CyCy yellow

1. Questions:

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

• Green 1:MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValTyrTrpArgGln
• Green 2: Combination of Blue MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValTyrCysArgGln and yellow MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValTrpCysArgGln
• Blue: MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValTyrCysArgGln
• Yellow: MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValTrpCysArgGln
• Red: MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValPheCysArgGln
• White: MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValValCysArgGln

b) Allele, color, and amino acid sequence

1. Alleles:

• Green
• Blue
• Purple
• Yellow
• White
• Red

1. Colors: same as corresponding alleles

• Green
• Blue
• Purple
• Yellow
• White
• Red

Amino acid sequence: in order of listed colors

• MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValTyrTrpArgGln
• MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValTyrCysArgGln
• MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValTyrPheArgGln
• MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValTrpCysArgGln
• MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValValCysArgGln
• MetSerAsnArgHisIleLeuLeuValTyrPheArgGln

c) What features of a protein make it colored? Proteins can have color because of special amino acids like tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine. These amino acids have aromatic rings that can absorb UV light. When proteins have these amino acids next to one another, they can absorb more UV light, especially in the UV-Vis spectrum. This makes them fluorescent and show different colors. The color depends on the kinds of amino acids and how they're arranged in the protein.

d) What features of the amino acid sequence make a protein a particular color? The color of a protein depends on how aromatic amino acids are arranged in its sequence. To make the protein show color, these amino acids need to be in specific spots where they can interact well with the surrounding amino acids. If there are changes in other positions of the amino acid sequence, it can mess up how the amino acids interact, and the protein might not show its color even if it has these special amino acids. So, where these special amino acids are placed in the sequence really matters for the protein to have its unique color.

e) How do the colors combine to produce an overall color? How does this explain the genotype-phenotype rules you found in part I? When a color has only one type of gene and mates or self crosses with itself, it will always show that color. For instance, Green-1, with just a green gene, consistently displays the green color when self-crossed. On the other hand, if a color has two genes and is self-crossed, it can reveal various colors. Green-2, with two genes, would have self-crossing that results in flowers with green, yellow, and blue shades. Additionally, when true breeding colors with matching traits are crossed, new colors can emerge. The overall display of color relies on the genetic differences between the organisms involved in the mating process. While a specific genetic composition consistently leads to a particular appearance, that same appearance can be observed across different genetic compositions.