Thomas Pollom: Module 1 Day 1

1. The major writing assignment for this module will be a description of your M13 renovation work. Use the summary in your lab notebook to start a table on your wiki user page to organize your thoughts about the existing genome. Generate a table that lists each gene and any re-engineering ideas you have for it. 2. Nature often preserves functionally critical genomic elements, and evolutionary cousins can help us identify which genetic elements are disposable, which are interchangeable, and which are essential. Who are M13's closest evolutionary relatives and how do they differ from the phage you're working with? According to Robert Webster of the Duke University Medical Center, f1 and fd phage are most similar to M13 phage. All three are in the Ff class of the filamentous phages. The DNA sequences of these three phages shows them to be 98% homologous.

3. Register for an account at the Registry for Standard Biological Parts. This site is a clearing house for engineered biological parts that can be used as substrates for building. Look up part BBa_M1307 and write a response to the following criticism: "BBa_M1307 is not a standard biological part and does not belong in the registry." According to the registry, "The M13K07 sequence includes the entire M13 genome as well as a sequence from pACYC177 bearing the p15a bacterial origin of replication and a kanamycin resistance gene." We discussed in class that a "part" is a basic biological function that can be encoded as genetic information. Thus, I agree that BBa_M1307 is not a standard biological part because it encodes multiple biological functions. It would be better classified as a biological device, or probably even more appropriately as a biological system.