|
Summary:Only
fifty years ago were the details of DNA beginning to be discovered.
Now scientists can manipulate this thread of life down to the base
pair.But before the genetic code for making proteins was broken,
Max Delbruck and George W. Beadle wrote messages back and forth
using colored toothpicks for their nucleotides. My project uses
a series of shapes from the video game Tetris to represent each
triplet DNA codon. Each amino acid coded for is then changed into
the one letter scientific abbreviation (except O, which is methiOnine).
Gaps in the top and bottom rows of the strands are analogous to
the major and minor grooves of DNA. When translated the top strand
reads (spaces added): DOES EVERYONE PLAY WITH DNA?
The
bottom strand reads:DOES ONE PLAY WITH EVERY DNA? To make this bottom
strand I used transposition mutations and a point mutation. Notice
the subtleties of the strand difference even though these two questions
have contrasting meanings. There is no stop codon like on the top
strand to represent that the last statement is an ongoing question.
Once genetic manipulation is not just limited to scientists and
students, at what organism and level do we stop? The questions posed
when these strands are translated into protein should constantly
be asked in science and in life.
The
DNA base pairs are as follows: pink for C, blue for G, green for
A, and purple for T (or U when the protein is translated into RNA).
I'd like to thank Tetris and it creators for providing me with inspiration
for the base pairs. Additional thanks to Nyla Zender, Betty Luceigh,
and Frederick Freking for teaching me about the genetic code and
its amino acids in fascinating detail.
|
