Comparative Proteomics

Comparative Proteomics

  • Submitted By: jethulson1
  • Date Submitted: 12/01/2013 10:53 PM
  • Category: Science
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Comparative Proteomics: Protein Profiler Lab
by Jonathan Thulson

Biology 113
October 6, 2013

Lab Partner:
Vernon Morris

INTRODUCTION
Proteomics is the study of proteins. Their functions, interactions with other proteins, cellular locations and levels at which they are expressed. The purpose of this lab was to compare the proteins present in different species of fish to be able to determine which species of fish have the closest relation. This can be determined based on which two fish species have the most proteins in common with one another. The Central Dogma of biology is a process in which a gene made of DNA is transcribed by a messenger RNA and then translated into a protein. Based on the Central Dogma of biology if two species have similar proteins, that means that they have similar DNA. At the start of this lab we did research about all the fish we would be doing the experiment on in order to create a thesis on which two of the fish would be the most similar. Based on the research from a database on fish (http://www.fishbase.net) I came up with the thesis that Salmon and Trout would be the most similar fish in the study. They would be the most similar because they live in the same areas, they are both freshwater fish, they both swim in the same way, they have similar diets and they have similar lifespans. So based on their similarities they would have similar proteins, and therefore similar DNA.
METHODS
The method used in this lab to map the proteins was the method of Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. This method can be used to separate the proteins present in the fish muscle and separates them on size. Due to the fact that they are separated by size, the proteins can be compared because similar proteins with stop at the same spot in the gel. So measuring the bands that show up on the gel you can determine if different fish species have similar proteins. The first thing that is done is to extract the proteins from the...

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