Thread: Genetics for not-so-dummies

Hello, I'm Benito and I m a Not-So-Dummy (In my opinion at least), and I already know a little about Genetics, you know the basics: Mendel, Basic cell reproduction, and where the DNA is and how it communicates. But I still have a few questions, so here are some of them:

1. How could you extract DNA from cells to have samples?
2. How do you safely store DNA so that it remains usable for testing?
3. What is some basic lab equipment that is used for Genetics, and how are they used?
4. What are some interesting Genetic experiments?

I know you can do some simple stuff like selective breeding, which is what Mendel mostly did, with almost no tools, but I am already saving up for a small scale replication of Mendel's pea plants. So what I would really like is some more complex experiments to do when I'm done with those.

Thank you for helping,
Benito

1. Use soap to dissolve membranes, and pure ice ethanol to flotate the fragments. The white strings are the dna, you can centrifuge it, but simply using a spoon to take it out would do. Also then you can dissolve it again in Tris-EDTA buffer. (small volume)
2. Freezer -20 or -40. You could store it there for years.
3. A, pcr unit, some primers, probes, taq, you need nucleotides, centrifuge, indicators, vortex, electrophoresis unit, agarose, a camera, waterbath+thermostate. That's the most basic i can think off. You can get this second hand for a few thousand Euro's.
4. There are no genetic "experiments" i can think off, in the way i feel you like to do this. They all have a specific goal, and an intended use. If you can get your hands on a determined (from where you know exactly what the code is embedded in this) plasmid, you can cut and paste some insert into it, and transfer it to a bacterium. But that requires you to be more experienced.

Sorry to tell you this, but you should have known the answer to 1, 2 and 3 before i would call you a not so dummy. In that case i wouldn't need to give you the answer on 4 as you would have already done this experiment. I'd not advice you to try this, as chances for succes are practically 0. Even if you are succesfull i doubt you would figure it out.

Then, on a mendel, reproduction/selective breeding. Yes you probably can do this. I used fruitflies. Crossing them, and counting the number i got.

The mathsupport..Simple Mendelian Genetics in Drosophila

The step by step how to..
http://www.bio.uci.edu/academic/grad...laHandbook.pdf

I'm pretty confident you can do this with a little efford. Though i wonder why you asked the first 3 questions, as they have nothing to do with mendel.

Good luck.

Thank you, and well some of that really had nothing to do with Mendel, it was just some questions I had. I am new to Genetics so give me a break :P

Well, on my defence, you started the thread with "Not-So-Dummies" so i thought you were an expert. Dazzling me with experience and wits. But you were new to genetics. Well, if i can give you some advice, learn some DNA or RNA replication, and self repair mechanisms. I use to study the JAK2 gene, but on DNA the XRCC1 gene is a little more interesting. Some mechanisms that proteins use to influence DNA, like leucine zipper motiv binding proteins. Or zinc finger motiv.

This should provide sufficient reading to get your knowledge about genetics a boost.

Ok, it is mostly my fault, but I was coining the term 'not-so-dummy' on my general knowledge of respectable sciences, not genetics. But now lets drop this thing and move on. Thank you for all of the help and next time I will not call myself a not-so-dummy until I can really dazzle someone with experience and wits :3