7th Grade Life Science Office hours: 1:00-2:30 pm Monday-Friday

Cassy Spenner Andrew Ferrell

Spenner.cassandra@westada.org Ferrell.andrew@westada.org 208-901-7702 208-901-7702

Conference ID: 684 706 040# Conference ID: 195 361 512#

Review of Artificial Selection Monday, April 20th (Day 1) Learning Intention: Scientists need to obtain, evaluate and communicate information to others. This allows a scientific

community to deepen their understanding of the natural world.

Brief Explanation: “Choose your own adventure” day! Take your unfinished/finished brochure about GMOs, Gene

Therapy, or Animal Husbandry and present your information to a family member-OR-Read and respond to the “Artificial

Selection” reading.

Resources needed: Your unfinished copy of your Unit 3 brochure project and/or the “Artificial Selection”

reading/response

Tuesday, April 21st (Day 2)

Learning Intention: Scientists need to obtain, evaluate and communicate information to others. This allows a scientific

community to deepen their understanding of the natural world.

Brief Explanation: Read the article and use the annotation guide to help write a short paragraph that explains the

central idea of the article. You must use evidence from the article to support your response.

Resources needed: Newsela article “Doctors Try First CRISPR Editing in the Body for Blindness”

Wednesday, April 22nd (Day 3)

Learning Intention: Scientists analyze and interpret data to determine similarities and differences in findings.

Brief Explanation: Look at the sample of ingredients from a cereal box. Determine how many ingredients could be made

from genetically modified ingredients. Now look around your own food labels to see how many possible GMOs you can

find.

Resources needed: GMOs and graphing pages as well as looking at the food around you

Thursday, April 23rd (Day 4)

Learning Intention: Scientists need to obtain, evaluate and communicate information to others. This allows a scientific

community to deepen their understanding of the natural world.

Brief Explanation: Look at how technological advances have changed the tomato and the tomato industry over the

years. Read 2 excerpts and create a cause/effect for how this is done.

Resources needed: Tomato articles and Cause/Effect page

Friday, April 24th (Day 5)

Learning Intention: Construct a model as a tool for representing ideas and explanations of changes in living organisms

Brief Explanation: Create a genetically modified organism. Follow the directions on your worksheet and be creative!

Resources needed: “Create a Genetically Modified Organism” worksheet

GT STUDENTS- Your enrichment work will be labeled as a separate assignment from this packet.

Day 1- Present your brochure information to a family member

*Extension activity: Finish the brochure. Record a video explaining your brochure and share it with others.

-OR-Complete the following:

Artificial Selection Natural selection occurs when an environment selects for organisms with favorable traits. The frequency of traits in a population changes naturally because of natural selection. On the other hand, artificial selection is the process by which humans intentionally select plants or animals with desirable traits and then purposely breed those organisms to produce more organisms with favorable traits. Artificial selection is also called selective breeding because we select which organisms will reproduce and have offspring.

Artificial selection has been used for thousands of years. Humans used – and still use – artificial selection to domesticate animals. Wild animals that were tame and able to be trained were selected to be domesticated. They were bred to produce more animals that could be domesticated. Today, humans use artificial selection for breeding pets as well. Humans selectively breed animals such as cats and dogs to produce pets with desirable traits, such as friendliness, intelligence or attractiveness.

Additionally, humans used – and still use – artificial selection in farming. Humans selectively breed horses and other farm animals with desirable traits. Horses are selectively bred to produce fast and strong offspring. Cows are selectively bred to produce offspring with high milk output. Humans use artificial selection in crop and plant breeding as well. In fact, plant breeding is the oldest form of selective breeding. Plants are artificially selected so to manipulate the way plants look or the crops they produce. In agriculture, plants are selectively bred to produce high-yield crops. Plants have been selectively bred to produce seedless fruits and new food items, such as broccoflower (a cross between broccoli and cauliflower).

There are some disadvantages to artificial selection. Most notably, artificial selection decreases diversity. This is dangerous because if disease spreads among a population of organisms, all with the same traits, all of the individuals would be affected and an entire population could be wiped out. Furthermore, it is also possible that artificial selection can create organisms that are harmful to humans and other species. For example, Africanized honeybees were selectively bred to produce more honey. However, these bees have increased aggressiveness and have been known to attack and even kill humans - which is why they are also called killer bees.

Task 1

Directions: Complete the sentences with terms from the word bank.

1. selection is the process by which humans breed plants or animals with favorable traits. For this reason, we also called this

breeding.

2. Artificial selection is different from selection, where the environment selects for organisms with favorable traits.

3. Wild animals that are tame and able to be trained are selectively bred to produce

animals.

4. Humans use artificial selection to selectively breed pets to produce animals with

traits, such as friendliness, intelligence or attractiveness.

5. In agriculture, are selectively bred to produce high-yield crops.

Task 2. Compare and contrast natural and artificial selection (refer to last week’s assignments for reference if you need to). _________________________________________________________________________________

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Task 3.

Do you think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of artificial selection? Justify your answer.

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WORD BANK

Artificial Desirable Domesticated Intentionally

Natural Plants Selective

Day 2-

Instructions:

1. If possible, use the annotation guide provided

to record your thinking and understanding or

take notes from each section

2. Write a short paragraph that explains the

central idea of the article. Use at least two

details from the article to support your

response

Doctors try first CRISPR editing in the body for blindness

Dr. Mark Pennesi, who leads Oregon Health and Science University's

involvement in the trial (center right) looks on as staff at school's Casey Eye

Institute perform the first-ever in vivo CRISPR gene edit procedure for the

BRILLIANCE clinical trial in Portland, Oregon, on a patient who had an

inherited form of blindness. It may take up to a month to see if it worked to

restore vision.

Photo: Kristyna Wentz-Graff/OHSU via AP

By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff

Published:03/22/2020

Scientists say they have used the gene editing tool CRISPR inside someone's body for the first time. The treatment is a new step in efforts to treat diseases by operating on DNA, the chemical code of life.

CRISPR stands for clusters of regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. It is a specialized region of DNA. CRISPR technology is a powerful new tool for editing DNA. It allows scientists to alter DNA and the function of genes.

A patient recently had their DNA edited using CRISPR at the Casey Eye Institute at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon. This is the first time this treatment has been done inside the body. On March 4, the companies that make the treatment announced that the treatment was for an inherited form of blindness. They would not give details on the patient or when the surgery occurred.

Treatment To Restore Vision

It may take up to a month to see if the treatment restored vision. If the first few attempts seem safe, doctors plan to test it on 18 children and adults.

"We literally have the potential to take people who are essentially blind and make them see," said Charles Albright. He is the chief scientific officer at Editas Medicine, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company developing the treatment with Allergan, a company based in Dublin, Ireland. "We think it could open up a whole new set of medicines to go in and change your DNA."

Jason Comander is an eye surgeon at Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston, another hospital that plans to enroll patients in the study. He said the surgery marks "a new era in medicine" using a technology that "makes editing DNA much easier and much more effective."

Locating And Cutting DNA At Specific Spot

Doctors first tried in-the-body gene editing in 2017 for a different inherited disease using a tool called zinc fingers. Many scientists believe CRISPR is a much easier tool for locating and cutting DNA at a specific spot. Interest in the new research is very high.

The people in this study have Leber congenital amaurosis. The condition is caused by a gene mutation. The error keeps the body from making a protein needed to convert light into signals to the brain, which enables sight. People with the condition are often born with little vision and can lose even that within a few years.

Scientists cannot treat the condition with standard gene therapy. Gene therapy is supplying a replacement gene. The gene needed for the condition is too big to fit inside the disabled viruses that are used to ferry the replacement gene into cells.

Instead, scientists are trying to edit, or delete, the mutation by making two cuts on either side of it. The hope is that the ends of the DNA will reconnect and allow the gene to work as it should.

A Tube The Width Of A Hair

The treatment is done in an hour-long surgery under general anesthesia. Through a tube the width of a hair, doctors drip three drops of fluid containing the gene editing machinery just beneath the retina. The retina is the lining at the back of the eye that contains the light-sensing cells.

"Once the cell is edited, it's permanent and that cell will persist hopefully for the life of the patient," because these cells do not divide, said Eric Pierce at Massachusetts Eye and Ear. Pierce is a scientist who was not involved in this first case.

Doctors think they need to fix one-tenth to one-third of the cells to restore vision. In animal tests, scientists were able to correct half of the cells with the treatment, Albright said.

The eye surgery itself poses little risk, doctors say. Infections and bleeding are relatively rare complications.

One of the biggest possible risks from gene editing is that CRISPR could make accidental changes in other genes. The companies, though, have worked to minimize the risk and to ensure that the treatment cuts only where it is intended to, Pierce said. He has advised Editas and also helped test a gene therapy called Luxturna, that is sold for a different type of inherited blindness.

Some independent experts were optimistic about the new study.

"The gene editing approach is really exciting. We need technology that will be able to deal with problems like these large genes," said Jean Bennett. She is a University of Pennsylvania researcher who helped test Luxturna at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In one day, she had three calls from families seeking solutions to inherited blindness.

"It's a terrible disease," she said. "Right now they have nothing."

Kiran Musunuru is another gene editing expert at the University of Pennsylvania. He said the treatment seems likely to work, based on tests in human tissue, mice and monkeys.

The gene editing tool stays in the eye and does not travel to other parts of the body. Therefore, "if something goes wrong, the chance of harm is very small," he said. "It makes for a good first step for doing gene editing in the body."

Day 3- Do you know what you are eating? Do you have an opinion on how food is grown?

Let’s look at the GMO vs Non-GMO foods food debate!

What is a GMO?

A GMO, or genetically modified organism, is a plant, animal, microorganism or other organism whose genetic

makeup has been modified in a laboratory using genetic engineering or transgenic technology. This creates

combinations of plant, animal, bacterial and virus genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional

crossbreeding methods.

What crops can be GMO crops?

According to the USDA, the GMO crops being produced in the United States are:

• Alfalfa • Pineapple (pink flesh varieties)

• Apple (Arctic TM varieties) • Potato

• Canola • Salmon (AquAdvantage®)

• Corn • Soybean

• Cotton • Squash (summer)

• Eggplant (BARI Bt Begun varieties) • Sugarbeet

• Papaya (ringspot virus-resistant varieties)

How many of these ingredients do you think are found in the food you eat each day?

Take a look at this cereal example. Which ingredients on the label could be genetically modified?

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Look at some of the food labels around your house. Make a tally on the next page of any ingredients

to find that COULD be a GMO. Take that information and graph your findings.

Day 4-

Introduction: Technological advances have changed the tomato and the tomato industry over the years. The technology

includes both selective breeding and genetic engineering.

Genetic engineering

Read the excerpts from the following articles to answer the questions.

Selective Breeding Produces Desirable Processing Tomatoes

www.cfaitc.org 51 California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom

Over many years, plant breeders have worked to develop tomatoes that have certain characteristics. This fact

sheet gives you some information on how selective breedingó when two plants with certain characteristics are

bred on purposeóhas produced tomatoes with characteristics that help in the processing tomato industry. One

of the most beneficial developments in tomato technology has been the development of processing tomatoes

that can be machine harvested. Tomato breeders wanted a small, compact plant with tomatoes whose shape

and skin texture could handle machine picking. After years of diligent breeding, a tomato that was ìsquare

roundî was developed. It had a shape that could be picked by machine and a tough skin. Machine harvesting

meant farmers saved the cost of expensive hand labor to pick tomatoes and the fruit could be harvested

quickly. Tomato breeders have also produced a wide range of tomato varieties through selective breeding.

One variety of tomato has a small amount of juice, has good peel ability, and the ability to hold up after being

diced. These meaty tomatoes are used to make tomato paste. This tomato paste is either sold in stores as

tomato paste or is reconstituted (water added back into it) to produce tomato sauces and catsup during the

off season. This makes tomato products available year-round. Another variety of tomato is easy to peel and

has a little more juice that other varieties. This type of tomato is used to make tomato juice and tomato

sauce right after harvest.

Information obtained from Andy Kennedy, a tomato field representative and buyer for Colusa County Canning Company

in Williams, California; and Donna Mitten, a genetic engineering consultant

GM Tomato Tastes Better

Taste testers prefer tomatoes that carry a flavor-enhancing gene

By JR Minkel on June 25, 2007

Shoppers who miss the taste of farm-grown tomatoes may find solace in a new technology that puts back what

generations of breeding for hardiness and shelf life have taken out. A new variety of tomato has been

genetically modified (GM) to produce geraniol, a rose-smelling compound found in fruits and flowers. In a

blind taste test, 60 percent of 37 testers preferred the flavor of the GM tomato, according to a study published

online this week in Nature Biotechnology.

The result proves that genetic modification can potentially restore some of the flavor and aroma lost as

breeders have created more durable strains of tomatoes and other crops, says biotechnologist Efraim

Lewinsohn of the Newe Ya'ar Research Center in Ramat Yishay, Israel, who led the research. "You often sit

down in living rooms and people complain tomatoes don't taste like they used to," he says.

In an effort to banish such idle supper time chatter forever, Lewinsohn and colleagues gave extra-large cherry

tomatoes [see image above] a geraniol-synthesizing gene from the lemon basil plant. The modified tomato

does not taste exactly like a traditional tomato, but it does noticeably change and enhance the flavor—

something that GM technology has not achieved before, Lewinsohn says. Tomatoes contain more than 400

volatiles, or potentially fragrant compounds, and researchers have yet to identify the most important

contributors to the classic tomato taste.

The team found that tomatoes broke down geraniol into at least ten other lemon- and rose-smelling

compounds. Taste testers described the fruit as smelling like rose, geranium and lemongrass. One side effect of

the change was a reduction in lycopene, a red carotenoid pigment, which gave the tomatoes a more orange hue.

Lewinsohn says the commercial acceptance of this or any other flavor-enhanced tomato would depend on

consumer tastes and attitudes. He adds that, in principle, flavor improvement could come from more

traditional breeding instead of GM technology, which is unpopular in European countries.

Another possible source of better-tasting tomatoes is the local farmers' market—or even the backyard garden—

but Lewinsohn notes that locally grown tomatoes are not available year-round. "If you want commercial

production of good quality tomatoes," he says, "that's more difficult."

2019 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, A DIVISION OF SPRINGER NATURE AMERICA, INC.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

1.) Read and synthesize information about the two technologies, selective breeding and

genetic engineering, have changed the ways humans influence traits of tomatoes.

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2.) Assess the credibility of the information you gathered. Using your prior knowledge of

inheritance, is the information accurate and free of possible bias.

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3.) What is the cause and effect relationship between genetic engineering and selective

breeding and the inheritance of desired traits in tomatoes?

This work is licensed by the author(s) under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.This work is licensed by the author(s)

under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Hosted by The Wonder of Science

Day 5-

Create a Genetically Modified Organism

Directions: You will pick an organism and describe a modification you think would be important to make for that

organism. Your organism can be plant-based, like a flower, a tree, or fruits and vegetables. It can be animal-based, like

pets, or animals used in animal husbandry. It can also be a bacteria or a virus- perhaps you’d like to modify a certain

annoying virus so that it has more favorable traits…

Write a paragraph describing the genetic modification you want to make to the organism of your choosing (Remember,

a paragraph should be a minimum of 50 words and at least 5 sentences). Why would you add this modification? Does

this modification help to fill a need in the world? How?

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Draw an image or create a diagram describing your genetically modified organism below: