Dracula Ants (Dear Mom,....)

Dracula Ant (Adetomyma venatrix)
       Dracula Ants are different than any other ants. They are shaped unlike any other ant, having a skinny waist and only one joint between their thorax and abdomen. They get their name from the way they feed. Due to their skinny waist, they can't eat solid foods, or else they would choke and die. The larvae on the other hand, are made to eat and can handle all manner of food. They consume the solids that the workers bring back to the nest and pass the protein back as a liquid. The adult ants then chew a hole in the larvae skin. The hemolymph then oozes out, and the adults take a drink.


Dear Mom,
      Life here is tough. It's horrible having to see my own kids get cut open just to feed the rest of our population. I wish evolution took a different path, and we didn't develop this way. Sometimes I feel like I should be helping the young ones. They haven't done anything to deserve it. Every day I see my own family get cut open just so that we can feed ourselves. I can't argue, it is good, but I wish there was another way to feed ourselves. Due to this continuous way of eating, our species is slowly diminishing. I fear that by the end of our day we will have about 10 less brothers. 
         I plan on trying to help out the family by rescuing as much as I can, it'll be dangerous but seeing my family safe matters more to me than dying. I will do everything I can to save them, and if I fail, I tried. Please don't let our family tree line be the same. If anything happens to me, I'll need you to help or at least try to help the rest of the family. It will mean the world to me. I love you mom, hope to see you soon.


Sincerely,
Alessandro Ettore (defender)

Ecological Footprint

If everyone on the planet lived my lifestyle, we would need:

 

= 3.07 Earths

Becoming Human

Sahelanthropus tchadensis

(6-7 millions years old)

Found in Central Africa, this hominid has a body structure similar to apes today.

Australopithecus africanus

(2-3 million years old)

Found in Makapansgat, South Africa, this hominid has a body structure more similar to our build. It is small-bodied and has a pelvic characteristic to habitual bipeds.

  Paranthropus boisei

(2.3-1.4 million years old)

Found in East Africa, this hominid had features unique to themselves (usually large extremes of current structures), such as large cheekbones and large molars.

Homo habilis

(2.5-1.6 million years old)

One of the earliest Homo species, found in Kenya, Africa, this hominid had an unusually large brain, not unlike the brain in our species. It had a combination of ape-like and human-like traits in their body.

Homo neanderthalensis

(200 -28 thousand years old)

The skull of this hominid is very similar to our skulls, albeit its body structure is heavily built like some apes today.

The hominid  species which, for now, dates back to six million years ago has changed drastically over time. It begins with ape-like before the features become more narrow. The features, especially the cheekbones generally evolve to encompass a human-like skull. The cranium becomes much larger, most likely as the brain continued to evolve. Eventually, the hominid species became what we know today as homo sapiens.

Geographical Distribution Supporting Evolution

As common sense dictates, the fossils of ancestral species to a current species would be found near to where the current species lives.


This happens because when the animal is adapting into the current species, it also adapts to its environment, making it harder to leave the already set environment. Eventually, it evolves into what we have today, never leaving its original environment. 

Natural Selection and Exapatation

Natural Selection is the process in which mutations are either spread or eliminated is a crucial part of evolution. It is a process that usually takes many years, and even then, continues on. As the environment around the animal changes, so do the animals need to adapt. Useful adaptations help the animal survive to pass on their genes, including the adaptations, while hindering adaptations only prevent the animal from surviving and therefore from passing on their hindering gene. After multiple centuries, the helpful gene would have spread to most of the population of the animal while the hindering gene would have been snuffed out.

Exaptation, a close term of natural selection, is the charge of the function of a gene in a animal. An example would be the usage of feathers in a bird. Originally, for heat regulation, the feathers eventually became for the use of flying. Due to natural selection, many useful mutations grew into flight for the birds which have remained ever since.

Cloning

Cloning, the process of creating genetically identical organisms, is currently a very promising area. Many are researching cloning and its implications on human society.

However, cloning research should be regulated by some kind of enforcer. Without such regulation, cloning research could be dangerous and unethical. If research is not regulated, the scientific community would be the only decider on whether their research has gone too far ethically. They may choose to take drastic means in order to further their research without regards to how they are doing so.

The regulation should most likely be done by the government. Constant inspection by the government with the project to shut down any experiment that proves to be unethical would help bring cloning research in check. Ballets to determine whether the experiment should be shut down would bring the population's opinion on the research to the government.

Regulation can also be done by the benefactor of the experiment. The benefactor, in a sense, could regulate the experiment by withholding the money to support the experiment. However, the ethical question would depend solely on the benefactor. In this case, the government can step in which brings this back to the above paragraph.

Transcription, Translation, and Protein Synthesis

TRANSCRIPTION

Transcription is the process in which a synthesis of RNA is created from a DNA template. The entire process takes three steps. Initiation, Elongation, and Termination.

Initiation
Initiation is when the DNA helix splits into a single strand, and is then attached by the RNA polymerse. The RNA attaches to the sequence of DNA that contains the promoter, which details where the RNA is to start.

Elongation 
Once properly connected to the DNA strand, the RNA begins to use the DNA strand as a template for copying the genetic material. It connects the DNA nucleotides to their appropriate, opposite nucleotides (genuine with cytosine and vice-versa).

Termination

 RNA transcription stops when the newly synthesized RNA molecule forms a G-C-rich hairpin loop followed by a run of Us. When the hairpin forms, the mechanical stress breaks the weak rU-dA bonds, now filling the DNA-RNA hybrid. This pulls the poly-U transcript out of the active site of the RNA polymerase, in effect, terminating transcription.


TRANSLATION
Translation is the process of assembling protein molecules from the information encoded in the RNA. It starts off when mRNA goes out of the nucleus and joins a group of ribosomes and together they align to form a pattern.
the tRNA in their respective amino acid go to these ribosomes. The tRNA bear their anticodons complementary to the codon of mRNA.

PROTEIN SYNTHESIS

Protein synthesis is the process in which individual cells create proteins. Both DNA and all types of RNA are involved in this process. Enzymes in the cells nucleus begin by unwinding the DNA helix.  The RNA forms as a copy of one side of the DNA strand, and is sent to other areas of the cell to aid in the bringing together of different amino acids that form proteins. Protein synthesis is so called because proteins are "synthesized" through mechanical and chemical processes in the cell.

Once the strand of RNA has been made in the nucleus, it is called messenger RNA (mRNA). The mRNA exits the nucleus through tiny openings called nuclear pores, and moves into the larger area of the cell, known as the cytoplasm. Once it exits the nucleus, the mRNA is drawn toward a structure known as a ribosome, which serves as the cell's work station for protein synthesis. At this point, only one sub-unit of the ribosome is present.

BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) Genes

HTT huntingtin [ Homo sapiens ] (Gene 1)

Huntingtin is a disease gene linked to Huntington's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of striatal neurons. This is thought to be caused by an expanded, unstable trinucleotide repeat in the huntingtin gene, which translates as a polyglutamine repeat in the protein product. A fairly broad range in the number of trinucleotide repeats has been identified in normal controls, and repeat numbers in excess of 40 have been described as pathological. The huntingtin locus is large, spanning 180 kb and consisting of 67 exons. The huntingtin gene is widely expressed and is required for normal development. It is expressed as 2 alternatively polyadenylated forms displaying different relative abundance in various fetal and adult tissues. The larger transcript is approximately 13.7 kb and is expressed predominantly in adult and fetal brain whereas the smaller transcript of approximately 10.3 kb is more widely expressed. The genetic defect leading to Huntington's disease may not necessarily eliminate transcription, but may confer a new property on the mRNA or alter the function of the protein. One candidate is the huntingtin-associated protein-1, highly expressed in brain, which has increased affinity for huntingtin protein with expanded polyglutamine repeats. This gene contains an upstream open reading frame in the 5' UTR that inhibits expression of the huntingtin gene product through translational repression. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]

ELN elastin [ Homo sapiens ] (Gene 2)

This gene encodes a protein that is one of the two components of elastic fibers. The encoded protein is rich in hydrophobic amino acids such as glycine and proline, which form mobile hydrophobic regions bounded by crosslinks between lysine residues. Deletions and mutations in this gene are associated with supravalvular aortic stenosis (SVAS) and autosomal dominant cutis laxa. Multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]

FBN1 fibrillin 1 [ Homo sapiens ] (Gene 5)

This gene encodes a member of the fibrillin family. The encoded protein is a large, extracellular matrix glycoprotein that serve as a structural component of 10-12 nm calcium-binding microfibrils. These microfibrils provide force bearing structural support in elastic and nonelastic connective tissue throughout the body. Mutations in this gene are associated with Marfan syndrome, isolated ectopia lentis, autosomal dominant Weill-Marchesani syndrome, MASS syndrome, and Shprintzen-Goldberg craniosynostosis syndrome. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]

DMD dystrophin [ Homo sapiens ] (Gene 7)

he dystrophin gene is the largest gene found in nature, measuring 2.4 Mb. The gene was identified through a positional cloning approach, targeted at the isolation of the gene responsible for Duchenne (DMD) and Becker (BMD) Muscular Dystrophies. DMD is a recessive, fatal, X-linked disorder occurring at a frequency of about 1 in 3,500 new-born males. BMD is a milder allelic form. In general, DMD patients carry mutations which cause premature translation termination (nonsense or frame shift mutations), while in BMD patients dystrophin is reduced either in molecular weight (derived from in-frame deletions) or in expression level. The dystrophin gene is highly complex, containing at least eight independent, tissue-specific promoters and two polyA-addition sites. Furthermore, dystrophin RNA is differentially spliced, producing a range of different transcripts, encoding a large set of protein isoforms. Dystrophin (as encoded by the Dp427 transcripts) is a large, rod-like cytoskeletal protein which is found at the inner surface of muscle fibers. Dystrophin is part of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (DGC), which bridges the inner cytoskeleton (F-actin) and the extra-cellular matrix. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]