From: Karen Kalumuck (karenk@exploratorium.edu)
Date: Tue Mar 25 2003 - 15:30:25 PST
Message-Id: <v01540b10baa68c314e6f@[192.168.111.200]> Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 15:30:25 -0800 From: karenk@exploratorium.edu (Karen Kalumuck) Subject: Mitochondrial DNA sequencing
Hello, Everyone!
The Exploratorium's Public Programs department will be hosting a workshop
for members on mitochondrial DNA sequencing. To entice teachers to attend
this workshop (it's not necessary to be a member), they are offering a
SUBSTANTIAL discount --- $20 for the sessions (as compared to the $100 fee
for nonmembers wishing to take the course). The information follows. If
you think that your teaching could benefit from attending this workshop
(note: it requires a committment to 3 different Saturday mornings) contact
me directly at:
or
415-561-0388 Here's the information:
Sequence Your Own Mitochondrial DNA:
A Three-Day Workshop
Collect and Sequence mtDNA, and compare genetic ancestry
to others across
the world, as well as long-dead humans
April 19, 26 and May 10
9am-1pm
In a special three-day workshop, Exploratorium visitors
will be able to sequence
their mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Inherited only from the
mother, mtDNA is used
by scientists to trace the evolution and migration of the
human species, including
when the common ancestor of modern humans and
Neanderthals lived.
Sequence Your Own Mitochondrial DNA Workshop takes place
April 19, 26 and
May 10, from 9am-1pm. The workshop will allow visitors to
collect and sequence
their mtDNA, and also use it to compare their genetic
ancestry to others across the
world, as well as to long-dead humans like "Ice Man."
Offered in conjunction with
the Exploratorium's Traits of Life exhibition, the
workshop is co-sponsored by Bay
Area Biotechnology Education Consortium (BABEC) and
Applied Biosystems.
Registration is extremely limited and participants must
be 18 or over to attend. The
workshop costs $100 ($80 for members). Advance
registration required.
Forensic scientists, anthropologists, and evolutionary
biologists look at mutations
within the DNA of the mitochondrion to explore
differences between peoples and
populations. In this three-day workshop, visitors will be
able to do the work of
scientists and sequence their own mitochondrial DNA from
cheek cells. Based on
the results, they will analyze their DNA sequence to
reveal differences between the
students in the workshop, as well as compare their
sequence with those of the
"Ice Man," "Lake Mungo Man," and other long-dead humans.
Mitochondrial DNA has become a target for scientists who
do not have a ready
supply of bodily fluids or tissue to work with, but who
still need to examine
differences between people at the molecular level.
Whether it is the skeletal
remains of a Neanderthal or a trace amount of hair left
at the scene of a crime,
where intact genomic DNA might be hard to come by,
mitochondrial DNA can often
be readily recovered and used. Hundreds of mitochondria
may exist in each
human cell, while each mitochondrion may contain multiple
copies of its own
circular genome.
Mitochondrial DNA serves as a molecular clock, in that
within its structure there is
a 1200-base-pair non-coding segment, called the control
region, that carries the
genetic signals needed for replication and transcription.
Since much of this DNA
segment is not vital to the survival of the mitochondrion
or of the host cell, it is free
to accumulate mutations. (Other DNA segments are more
vital - mutations could
change the nature of the protein formed and gene
expression, and therefore
mutations could impact the survival of the organism that
bears that gene.) By
studying the number and variety of base changes within
this control region,
geneticists can determine the relatedness between
individuals. Using the
mutation rate within the mitochondrial control region as
a "molecular clock,"
evolutionists can plot the course that hominid evolution
has taken.
Karen E. Kalumuck, Ph.D.
Biologist/Educator
Exploratorium Teacher Institute
3601 Lyon St.
San Francisco, CA 94123
415-561-0388
FAX 415-561-0307
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