1. Dave Hawthorne Rich Walker Reid Compton Mary Lipscomb Edgar Moctezuma
Team 6: Gene Expression II
Teaching Unit - Information Flow in Eukaryotes:
Differential Gene Expression
Dave Hawthorne
Rich Walker
Reid Compton
Mary Lipscomb
Edgar Moctezuma
Jill Sible
Lil Tong

2. Information Flow in Eukaryotes: Differential Gene Expression

3. Information Flow in Eukaryotes: Differential Gene Expression

4. Information Flow in Eukaryotes: Differential Gene Expression
Context:
Freshman Biology course
No prerequisites
Some majors, some non-majors
Material covered before this unit:
Concept of a gene
Prokaryotic gene expression
Appreciate and are effective in group work
Reading assignment before class on eukaryotic gene
expression

5. Polypeptide elongation Recognition of start codon
Tidbit 1: To make sure everyone understands the steps of genetic information flow in eukaryotes, order the following events.
Mature protein
Nuclear export of RNA
Polypeptide elongation
Recognition of start codon
Positioning and activation of RNA polymerase
Termination of transcription
Ribosome encounters stop codon
RNA processing
Protein folding
RNA elongation

6. Tidbit 2a: Anthocyanin and grape color
Anthocyanins are flavonoid pigments in plant cells that make them look red, purple or blue.
The final step in the synthesis of anthocyanin is catalyzed by the enzyme UFGT.
Green grapes lack anthocyanins due to a mutation in the MYB transcription factor.
Red
Green

7. Clicker activity
Based on the strip sequence, which step in the UFGT expression pathway would be affected by mutation in the MYB transcription factor?
Termination of transcription
Recognition of the start codon
Positioning and activation of
RNA polymerase
Protein folding
None of the above
Red
Green

8. Tidbit 2b: Musclehead
Analysis of the human genome indicates a single a-tropomyosin
gene. However, tropomyosin protein isolated from muscle and
brain are structurally different.

9. Clicker activity
Regulation at which point in the tropomyosin gene
expression pathway could account for two structurally
different protein products encoded by the same gene?
Termination of transcription
RNA processing
Nuclear export of RNA
Protein folding

10. Mini lecture on points of regulation and experiments to study
them.
Take home assignment:
Design an experimental approach to determine which point of
control along the gene expression pathway accounts for the
different forms of tropomyosin in muscle and brain.

11. Next class:The a-tropomyosin gene is alternatively spliced.

12. Diversity considerations:
By allowing a range of correct answers for tidbit 1,
we accommodated both linear and non-linear approaches
to solving the problem.
Tidbit 1 also engaged kinesthetic and visual learners.
We used grapes rather than wine (alcohol) as an example.
We used an example from the plant/agricultural field
because not all students are pre-med.
We were sensitive to potential color-blindness by pointing
out different grape colors.

13. Thank You!
From the GrapeStormers