“Cracking the Code of Life: The race to decode human DNA” Video Questions
(A video on the Human Genome Project)
NOVA – © 2001
“When you look at the mirror, you don’t see DNA or RNA. You see proteins and the action of
proteins. We are the product of our proteins and their activity.” Craig Venter, “Cracking the Code of
Life” Video
1) How much of a banana’s DNA is similar to ours? ______________________
2) 4 and some billion years ago – 1st speck of life on warm surface of a _______________
3) Raw DNA looks like what in raw form? Eric Lander – geneticist found that it looks like
__________________________
4) Human beings only have _______________ as many genes as the fruit fly.
5) DNA chain in ________________ cell of the body
6) Size of DNA – 10 angstroms = __________________ of a meter. Stretch out all of it – run
_____________________________________ of miles
7) Every human baby born is _____________% identical to every other human baby in the world.
8) DNA fingerprinting? The old way?
9) Only about 1% of the __________ are active.
10) Revolutionized technology – _____________________ letters every day
11) Boeing 777 – ______________________ parts. Genome project – getting a parts list, but that’s
all you have. It’s important to have, but that doesn’t mean you know how to put it together.
12) Allison and Tim and son Hayden – something not right – something clearly wrong by time he
was 1 year old. Laughed all the time. Never crawled or ate with his hands. Started regressing.
Started missing developmental milestones. Slowly getting worse – _____________ Disease
13) Genes create proteins, and the protein that is supposed to take care of fat is not produced, so fat
builds up in the brain and begins to crush …… All because of ________ letter
14) Hayden gone blind, can’t eat solid food, has seizures as much as _______ times a day. Only
one outcome. Most die by age __________.
15) Tim’s identical twin brother, Charlie, and wife Blythe, who have 2 girls, including little
_____________________, who startled easily just like Hayden always did. Cameron had Tay
Sachs also.
16) Usually in ________________ groups and then it’s only a _______________ thing. All 4
members of the couples carry the gene.
17) Hayden Lord died a few months before his _______________ birthday.
18) The promise of the human genome project – an _____________________________ for
parents, doctors, etc. about genetic diseases. Spot these catastrophes while they’re still
insignificant dots on the gene.
19) Craig Venter thought he could find the human genome much faster than the other science team.
20) 1990 – he was a government scientist
21) Human ______________ chopped into tiny pieces
22) Laser bounces _________________ off of each tiny bit of DNA and the color that it sees
represents a ___________.
23) Venter’s dream was to have several of these machines going at once, so he quit his government
job and started a company called _______________________, which means speed.
24) Served time in navy and was on _________________, where it’s decided if people will live or
die. Saw a lot of people die.
25) Returned in _______________ and wanted to make use of this gift.
26) He didn’t like the attitude of the government team – planned to take 15 years.
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27) Venter said his team would finish in ______________ years! So the race began.
28) Gov’t team stepped it up. Francis Collins in charge.
29) Fall 1999 – meeting to check out ideas at ____________________
30) New state of the art $300,000 DNA __________________ machine. Getting all kinds of new
equipment, but not knowing how to make it work.
31) Cystic fibrosis discussion:
- Riley Demose – ________ days old – Cathy got the call that Riley had tested positive for cystic
fibrosis. Half of all patients die before age __________
- Proteins are 3-dimensional because _________ are 3-d.
- Every protein is given a shape, which defines them and what they _____________.
- In the protein world, “your shape is your _______________”.
- Riley is missing ____________ letters out of ________________, but the consequences are
huge. The protein is misshapen, and lung cells can’t do their job. His lung cells will not let
____________ out of the cell, causing it to be trapped in the cell. The lung cell becomes sticky
and covered in _______________. If doctors could just get the shape of the protein right, then
it would be recognized and allowed in the cell to do its job.
- Just finding the letters was _________-dimensional – in Kansas, so to speak. Fixing the
proteins from the letters is ___________-dimensional.
- Toni also has CF, but she developed it later. Didn’t fit the profile. Was told she might not
survive beyond her __________ birthday, and now she’s in her mid-40s. She still has to go to
hospital to get _____________ cleaned out. Still has the mistake in the genes, but she has
something that most patients don’t have.
- Craig Gerard, Toni’s doctor, says that “no gene acts in isolation”. Could she have some good
genes that are helping her?
- Dr. Gerard looking for ________________ in Toni that might be helping her. Maybe they
could bottle it and give to Riley and other CF patients.
32) From the genes, you get to the ______________, and then you have to understand what?
_____________________ - All the components and how they connect to each other.
33) A human being only has _______________ or so genes, only about _________ as many as a
fruit fly. That’s bothersome. But the difference is that our genes _________________. One
gene in fruit fly might only make ____ proteins, while one in human might make _____
proteins, and then they can ___________ or ___________ or ____________, causing different
functions.
34) Compare this idea to musical notes and making a short tune to a complex symphony, and we’re
not good at hearing the _________________ of the symphony yet.
35) Must complete the ______________ list of all the genes before we can do any of the next step.
36) Male pattern baldness search – look at the gene’s letters for hair for bald guys. Compare the
letters with those of men with hairs. Look at brothers’ genes so that the only differences may
be the ___________ difference. If you use related people, it’s easier.
Why? _______________________________________________________________________
37) Iceland – little island with tiny population of ___________________ people, mostly all
descended from ___________ of several years ago. They have a fantastic ______________
history, almost everyone’s family tree, and it’s on a database.
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Lady with osteoarthritis - Got sick at 12 and ______________ of her family members had to
have hip replacements b/c it was so bad. This is the family that the decoding people were
looking for – Why? _________________________________________________
They started combining family trees, medical records, and DNA to learn what’s going on.
38) What’s the problem with everyone seeing your medical records?
______________________________________________________________________
39) And, should someone have the right to see all of this and those of your relatives? ___________
They say that it is encoded with SS# and protected without names, and the DNA samples
(blood samples) are ________________.
40) Movie clip “Gattaca” – everyone’s DNA (future diary) is available and most babies are
_______________________ produced. The main character in the movie was conceived the
“__________________” way.
41) Making gene chips – came from babies. A single chip will allow you to test _______________
babies for certain diseases.
42) Knowing is __________; knowing early is __________ – as long as there is something that you
can ___________________________
43) What if it took 20-50 years to find a cure for a disease you were going to get? Would you still
want to know? __________________________________________
44) What if the test just tells you that you may get the disease? May and will are different.
45) Alyssa and Lori and Melanie (younger sister who died of ovarian cancer). Died in 1983.
- Alyssa then got breast cancer at age 34. She did well, but then found another lump in 1996.
- There are links b/t breast and ovarian cancer – brca1 and brca2 – perfectly healthy normal
genes that we all have. Sometimes there is a mutation on them – _______ letters missing and
genes are reconfigured.
- Causes a very high cancer risk – 80%
- Lori went to be tested – she was fine. However, Alyssa does carry the mutated gene, so she’s
wondering what day she’ll get sick.
- Alyssa’s son and daughter could also be carrying the gene – ________% chance
- Alana found lump in her own breast in senior year of high school (_______ years old). Lump
was __________, but Alana decided not to have the test that year.
46) Do we want to know? And, can we live with the answer of maybe or not? ____________
47) In “Gattaca”, they could choose the baby that they wanted, one without baldness, obesity, etc.
We have the beginnings of the ability to do this today.
-If we can do this, can we also add in the eyesight of a hawk? Not right now.
-It’s a very complex machine, and going in with a monkey wrench could break the machine.
-But, we do it with plants and some animals. Does that make is okay though….
48) What about with humans? How do you feel about this topic? Please support your answer.
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
49) Who won the race of finding the Human Genome first? ________________________________
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Journal Questions
1. What is the significance of knowing the human genome?
2. Do you think we have to be careful with the power that knowing it gives us? Explain.
3. What can we do with this knowledge?
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