 TRANSCRIBE this DNA molecule into an mRNA strand in your journal.  TAGGTCAAAACCACCATT  Use the codon chart you picked up to TRANSLATE the mRNA into Amino Acids  The amino acids on the chart also stand for a letter of the alphabet. Which word has Mr. Berg spelled in DNA code?

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 These involve the changing of a single nucleotide to another, as in UAC becoming UAG. This can result in one of two types of mutations-  Missense Mutations  Nonsense Mutations

 This type of mutation is a change in one DNA base pair that results in the substitution of one amino acid for another.

 Changing one letter of the DNA strand for another, resulting in a new amino acid.  TAGGTCAAAACCACCATT  Missense Point Mutation  TAGGTCACAACCACCATT  What does this strand say now?

 LMNA missense mutation resulting in Leucine instead of Arginine at position 527. Results in mandibular hypoplasia, among other things

 Another single base pair change, this time resulting in a premature stoppage of protein synthesis.

 Changing the letters of the DNA for another, resulting in a premature stoppage.  TAGGTCAAAACCACCATT  Point Mutation  TAGGTCATTACCACCATT  What does the word say now?

 A Nonsense Mutation causing an early stop to production of the protein dystrophin, which is responsible for the repair of muscles. Without dystrophin, instead of healthy muscle repair, scar tissue forms – cardiac muscle, muscles required for breathing, etc. eventually become unable to contract.

 Since protein-coding DNA is divided into codons three bases long, insertions and deletions can alter a gene so that its message is no longer correctly segmented.  For example, consider the sentence, "The fat cat sat." Each word represents a codon. If we delete the first letter and parse the sentence in the same way, it doesn't make sense. When we shift the “reading frame” of the codons, we ruin the code all the way downstream.

 An insertion changes the number of DNA bases in a gene by adding a piece of DNA.

 TAGGTCAAAACCACCATT  TAGGTCATAAACCACCATT  You know what to do

 This syndrome is caused by an insertion in chromosome 17. These mutations lead to the an abnormal version of the RAI1, a transcription factor involved in communication messages between DNA and RNA. The result are several physical abnormalities, as well as behavioral changes, issues sleeping, etc.

 A deletion changes the number of DNA bases by removing a piece of DNA.

 TAGGTCAAAACCACCATT  Deleted  TAGGTCAAACCACCATT

 Literally translating to “cry of the cat,” this syndrome involves a deletion in Chromosome 5, leading to a cat-like cry in those affected. It also causes cleft palette, severe motor and cognitive delays, and behavioral issues.

 To write a secret message to your friends.  Don’t forget to code the message as DNA.  To do this, start with the letter (i.e. G)  Find the mRNA codon that matches the letter (in this case CCA would work)  Change the mRNA back to DNA  CCA becomes  GGT