Watch the Human Genome Project video. (click on the orange words to launch video) -right click to open in a new tab Create a "Journal" for this activity (using your own notebook)
Questions to answer in Journal: 1. What does the Human Genome Project decode? 2. How is that code represented? 3. What has the project revealed about the differences between humans and bananas? 4. What question(s) does the Human Genome Project raise for you?
Now explore the DNA sequencing process by doing the Web activity Sequence for Yourself
Questions to answer in Journal: 5. Why does the DNA have to be cut into pieces? How is this done? 6. How are DNA copies made in the lab? 7. How do primers and special fluorescent nucleotides help determine the DNA sequences? 8. How does the overlapping of DNA segments allow the entire sequence of a DNA molecule to be read?
Watch the video The Sequencing Race Begins (You will need to click the green watch program button to the right after launching the video)
Questions to answer in Journal: 9. What is the process for sequencing the human genome? 10. How has the way scientists read the genetic code changed in recent years? 11. Why is the map of the human genome considered only the beginning of the Human Genome Project?
Questions to answer in Journal: 12. What does the majority of the DNA in chromosomes code for? 13. What is the role of gene promoters like TATA boxes? 14. How does the "machinery" of the cell know where to begin reading the gene? 15. What are exons, and what is their function in the chromosomes? 16. What are introns, and what do they do? What happens to them when DNA is transcribed into mRNA? 17. What are the roles of "hitchhiking" and ancient code in human DNA, and where did they come from? 18. How alike is the DNA from two different humans? 19. What is a gene, and what role do genes play in the human body?
Questions to answer in Journal: 20. Whose genes are being sequenced in the two human genome projects? 21. Are these genes representative of the human species? Why or why not? 22. What is the percentage of genetic difference between any two humans? 23. What does the similarity of basic functions between different organisms indicate?
Read the Genome Facts document. (once the link opens you will need to launch the document)
Discuss in your Journal your thoughts about the Human Genome Project and list any questions that you have