What are you doing today?

[masonnnn]

I got the last of my cramming done this morning and finally did the 09 exam which i left until today, so many tricky questions but still happy with my result.
besides light reading i can't think of much else to do for bio today(yet not sure if i should bother with other subjects seeing it is...tomorrow) aha, what are you all doing?

[bar0029]

im going over all my notes, by saying allowed, committing to memory
going over the things i need to go over e.g. dna profiling vs dna fingerprinting etc.
basically getting pumped for this exam heh
 

goodluck

[Russ]

I usually try to revise the sections of the subject that I know I'm weak in. Read through the relevant area of the textbook and relax in the evening with something fun.

[bar0029]

is it weird that i just want to hurry up and do the exam now? lol

[onerealsmartass]

is it weird that i just want to hurry up and do the exam now? lol

i know what you mean...
ive been working my ass of this unit and i want it to be over already

[masonnnn]

ahah true that. i've done all the practice exams i can be bothered with...now just reading over stuff impatiently... and then tomorrow will be such a long day of waiting...

[onerealsmartass]

indeed... i get so bored now when i try reading through notes, i just skim through thinking that i already know it all o.O

[ivslt247]

im going over all my notes, by saying allowed, committing to memory
going over the things i need to go over e.g. dna profiling vs dna fingerprinting etc.
basically getting pumped for this exam heh
 

goodluck

now u got me kinda worried :S isnt dna profiling and dna fingerprinting basically the same thing? just the dna profiling is the overall technique and fingerprinting is one thing that can be derived from it? ;x

[thushan]

Fingerprinting uses RFLPs. Basically
- get a largish sample of DNA
- chop it up with restriction enzymes that cut at either end of minisatellites
- run it on gel electrophoresis
- southern blotting using probe that binds to a base sequence on ALL the minisatellites
- then you compare the gel bands of two samples to discern whether they are the same person (LOTS OF BANDS)

Profiling uses STRs.
- get a small sample of DNA
- PCR using fluorescent primers that bracket the STR loci
- run it on gel electrophoresis (capillary electrophoresis actually but dw about that)
- a UV fluorescent detector detects the fluorescent colours from the primers so can identify each STR locus
- you can work out the "alleles" a sample or person possesses at each STR locus by looking at the distribution of the bands

[Milkshake]

Is it necessary to know the process? Or simply just how to read the results?

[thushan]

Fingerprinting is not on the study design though, although they could use it in the exam as an "application" question.

[ivslt247]

ty for the clarification i never knew we had to know it in such complexity :\

[happyhappyland]

ty for the clarification i never knew we had to know it in such complexity :\

you dont you just need to know the basics and apply it, but however if you know the whole a range of specific examples then it becomes much easier to answer questions

[golden]

Wait so profiling doesn't involve a blotting technique (eg. Southern Membrane Blotting)?

[thushan]

You could use blotting, but it's an old technique and these days realistically they use fluorescent markers