CRISPR & Genome Editing-Rodolphe Barrangou

Have you ever wondered if humans could edit the very genes that make up our cells and give us our unique traits? Well, through the use of the technology, called CRISPR (which has just turned 10 years old!) genome editing is making waves in the science world. In AP Biology class on December 12th, we listened to an engaging presentation by Rodolphe Barrangou, a professor at North Carolina State University and current researcher working with the CRISPR laboratory.

The presentation taught me a lot about CRISPR’s various applications in the Research, Bio-tech, Agriculture, and the Therapeutics fields. I learned how we can edit and cut genomes at a precise location in order to change DNA for medical purposes. 

In the medical setting, CRISPR is being used to cure people of genetically related diseases. For a woman named Victoria Gray, CRISPR helped cure her of her sickle cell disease by correcting a typo in her DNA. Gene editing can then be applied to the organs, cells, and tissues in our bodies to rewrite DNA with the goal of curing people of Sickle Cell Anemia. One long-term goal is targeting Cancerous tissues and engineering cells to trick the immune system into targeting Cancer. Another goal of gene editing is to be used in Antivirals and targeting viruses such as HIV. Professor Barrangou described that researchers hope to increase the number of cells that are edited in a patient with one dosage in order to increase efficiency which will lead to more widespread use of CRISPR. One of the questions that I am wondering is whether a good intention to fix a disease-causing typo in one’s genome could potentially lead to more mutations or Cancer in the long run?

Professor Barrangou also mentioned an example of a type of Butterfly that was genetically edited which I found to be very interesting! By editing a gene that gives the Butterfly a yellow color, the winged butterfly was recolored. The fascinating thing is that the pattern of the butterfly stayed the same. The precision to which genes can be edited is incredible to me. I am wondering whether gene editing could potentially change the color of any living organism (such as the colors of bird feathers)?

CRISPR is also being applied in the Agricultural setting in order to increase the nutrients in vegetables or fruits such as tomatoes, corn, or potatoes. The many applications of CRISPR in Ag, include improving the yield of crops, developing pesticide-resistant plants, developing drought-resistant plants, and making food that has more texture, flavor, and nutrients. I also learned from the webinar about a cool book related to food science that details genetically modified grain and its implications, called Golden Rice.

Professor Barrangou also talked about some common misconceptions that the public tends to believe about gene editing as well as the ethics of CRISPR. One of the common misconceptions is that eating genetically modified fruit will cause humans to become genetically modified. The misconception about fruit is not true because if anything, humans would get more nutrition from healthier fruits. Professor Barrangou also touched on the ethics surrounding CRISPR such as whether scientists should have the ability to edit the germ-line. Editing changes to DNA that offspring would inherit is still an ongoing discussion that people are having but it’s interesting to see how there might be hesitation about one’s offspring not having a say on the gene changes that are going to potentially affect them. I think that the questions about ethics surrounding CRISPR translate to conversations surrounding human embryos and not being able to necessarily get “consent” from unborn babies. However, I agree with Professor Barrangou that if you have the technology to help save lives, it doesn’t make sense to not use it. Just like he mentioned, not using CRISPR is like having a fire extinguisher to put out a fire and not using the extinguisher!

Lastly, Professor Barrangou also highlighted the importance of everyone working together to do their part in terms of editing each other and the media about CRISPR. Overall, I really enjoyed listening to Professor Barrangou’s insightful information about CRISPR. I recently heard about a CRISPR case in which a young girl that originally had an aggressive form of cancer is currently in remission for Leukemia so it’s really exciting how CRISPR is continuously working on ways to save lives. Just like Professor Barrangou stated, CRISPR has only been around for 10 years (considered a very short amount of time) so the technology is only going to keep growing!

One of my last questions is whether we could edit/make an organism’s genome reflect beneficial traits that have worked well for other organisms in the evolutionary process such as having better night vision? In the meantime, I will definitely check out the CRISPR journal!

 

CRISPR Reflection - Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants

The presentation on CRISPR was given by Jesse Hildebrand and Rodolphe Barrangu. 

What is CRISPR?

CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a tool used for genetically modifying DNA and RNA by precisely cutting DNA. This creates a gap for the DNA to patch by-itself, and could be considered a mutation or as CRISPR classifies, gene editing.

Before attending the presentation, I thought that gene editing was only used in agriculture. In the grocery store, I often scan items on the shelves for the “Non-GMO” sticker, assuring me that the products I’m about to buy are not genetically modified. However, today I learned that genetically modified organisms can be edited for good purpose in order to add more nutritional value to once ordinary crops. CRISPR technology is used in many fields including: Therapeutics, research, and biotechnology along with agriculture. 

CRISPR in Medicine

In medicine, CRISPR technology has been used to treat patients with sickle cell anemia, a genetic disease that changes the blood cell shape and causes a loss of healthy cells due to the abnormal shape. Today I learned about the first patient to receive CRISPR technology as a form of medicine. Victoria Grey received the technology to target the sickle cell anemia in her genome, which was edited and then released back into her body to correct the genetic disease.

Ethics of CRISPR

An interesting point that one of my classmates brought up was the ethics of genetically modified organisms and if there are consequences to CRISPR. Dr. Barrangu talked about how there are ethical limitations to what genes should be edited. An example he used was germline cells, cells that pass down genetic information through generations, and explained that editing a human genome for someone who has not been born yet is unethical. 

CRISPR will be extremely revolutionary in the medical field for treating countless genetic diseases and has already made an impact on sickle cell anemia treatments however, there is a point when gene editing could become unethical. When I thought about CRISPR in the medical field, I was reminded of the fictional story, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, in which human modification is taken too far, to the point of cloning people in order to harvest their organs. In the book, children are raised in an English boarding school from birth until they are young adults, however, they do not know or realize their purpose in life until they leave the school. The main character, Kathy, has an identity crisis for most of the story because she does not realize that she is a clone, and her sole purpose in life is to donate as many of her organs as possible. The book highlights the ethics of medicine and technology in the modern day, such as CRISPR, and questions how far is too far when editing the human genome. Human cloning is unethical and has not been attempted in this day and age, however, that is not to say that within the next century, Ishiguro’s fictional story is at risk of becoming a reality because of genome editing and copying. 

This is why ethical codes are so important within medicine, a field that is continuously making revolutionary research discoveries such as CRISPR. Technology to that advanced level must be kept in good hands to avoid morally and ethically wrong decisions in genome editing.

Curious question: If a person is using CRISPR to treat a genetic disease, is it possible for their body to reject an edited genome or respond negatively in some way?

Image Source:

Heidt, Amanda. “CRISPR Gene Editing Prompts Chaos in DNA of Human Embryos.” The Scientist, 26 June 2020, https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/crispr-gene-editing-prompts-chaos-in-dna-of-human-embryos-67668. Accessed 12 December 2022.

The Human Immune System

 Have you ever wondered why a bump appears on your arm when a mosquito bites you? This is a perfect example showing how your body is protected by your immune system! The immune system protects an individual’s body from infections, illnesses, and diseases. There are 2 types of immunity: innate immunity and adaptive immunity. While innate immunity are protections already present in the body, adaptive immunity is determined by the human body’s exposure to a foreign substance. The immune system is further broken down into several parts that each have their own role when an invader enters the body. Some may directly attack the pathogen, while others may help the body develop immunity.

Here is a photo giving a summary of what happens when a pathogen enters the human body.

Overall, I am very proud of my first sketch note in AP Bio! I am not the best at drawing, so I was really impressed with the turnout. This method of note taking tested my creativity and organization skills as I had to convey what the immune system is and the process through different forms of media. Something I hope to improve for next time is making the arrows a little more clear. I used a lot and making all of the arrows one color can be difficult for someone to keep track or follow along.

Virus CDQ: How is vaccine inequity affecting global herd immunity?

Hello everyone and welcome back to my website! I hope you enjoyed exploring the biology world through my website so far! Have you ever thought about the distribution of vaccines? Have you ever been curious about which countries are vaccine-deprived? What about the effects on herd immunity? Well, dive into these interesting questions with me. As the end of our unit about viruses in my AP bio class has arrived , me and my hardworking teammates, Ariel and Olivia, created a video to answer our curious question, which may be yours too! We spent 85% of our time researching as planned. A lot was added to my knowledge during this activity and I'm so glad about it. Let's watch the video first. We had to work on our story table before we start making the video and it took a little too long to get approval from our teacher. But as soon as our story table got approved, we spent most of our next days working on the video; even our collaboration time at school :) Our video turned out good actually. We were not expecting it to be done by the due time but we did it! I'm so proud of my team and how we cooperated the whole time and shared ideas. It was a great experience overall. I hope the viewer enjoyed and learnt from this content.

The Mysteries of Water

Oil and water don’t mix; we witness this phenomenon often, such as when we dip bread into olive oil and balsamic vinegar at our favorite Italian restaurant or try to mix our favorite salad dressing. My team and I decided to delve deeper into this concept to understand what was happening at the molecular level, watch the video linked below to see what happened!

 The experimental setup was as follows; we filled one clear glass cup with oil and filled another clear glass cup with water containing pink food coloring for better visibility. We carefully placed a playing card on top of the cup filled with oil and placed it upside down on top of the cup filled with water. When we removed the card to allow the oil to pour into the water, the oil and water did not mix. The oil layer remained on top of the water with a clearly formed border indicating that the liquids did not interact. When we reversed the experiment and flipped the two cups upside down, which placed the water on top and the oil on the bottom, we observed an inversion of the two liquids, but no mixing. The water sank to the bottom, while the oil rose towards the top of the cup. This inversion is due to the difference in densities between water and oil. Water is denser than oil due to the size of the molecule and the bonds being a lot closer together. The chemical properties of oil and water do account for the liquids not mixing. Water is made of one hydrogen atom covalently bonded to two oxygen atoms making water a polar molecule due to an uneven charge distribution. This polarity makes water hydrophilic, which means water attracts other polar hydrophilic molecules. In contrast, oil is a lipid made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen molecules and does not have a significant charge, making oil non-polar and therefore hydrophobic. Polar and non-polar molecules do not mix well, and hydrophobic substances don’t dissolve in water, but instead repel the water molecules. 

During this process, we tried to film the experimental procedure and capture our observations live. Overall, I think our experiment was conclusive showing that oil and water don’t mix. However, I think we could have modified the procedure by carefully measuring equal volumes of oil and water. Additionally, smaller volumes of each liquid should have been used, which would have been more appropriate for the size of the cups utilized in our experiment. When we performed the experiment in reverse order we should have started the procedure from the beginning instead of trying to flip the cups which resulted in the water spilling out onto the tray. Our use of pink food coloring in the water made the visualization of the two distinct liquid layers very clear. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and we were not able to fully edit the video, so the video was submitted with a few voice-over errors. Overall, this was a fun experiment.

works cited:

“Why Don't Oil and Water Mix?” Wonderopolis, https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-dont-oil-and-water-mix. Accessed 31 August 2022.

By: Kayla Kosaka

A Bite Into Rabies

My partner, Yusra Al-Dabbagh, and I did our project on the virus known as rabies. What made me so interested in picking it was that there wasn’t a cure and it makes people go “mad”. I wanted to learn more about rabies, like where the virus originated from or how long rabies has been around. While doing the research, there were so many unique treatments that people came up with. One of these treatments involved submerging people under water. If people didn’t die from rabies, they died by drowning.

 

After doing our research, we found that there were in fact treatments for the early stages of rabies. There is a shot that can be taken to prevent getting rabies and then there is also an after shot if you get bit within a day. I learned so much from this project, like what causes rabies and how rabies can be prevented. Rabies is most commonly known to be transmitted by dogs, so there is a vaccine for animals. Unfortunately, there isn't a vaccine for humans, nor is there a treatment after 24 hours.

Once the symptoms appear, the chance of survival is very slim. When someone says rabies, people think of dogs or raccoons, but the animals infected could be almost any mammal. 99% of cases are transmitted between humans and dogs. This is why so little people survive after being bit, because they don't think the bite is a big deal. As soon as a person is bitten, it is critical that they go get the bite checked out at a hospital because after 24 hours death is basically guaranteed. Overall this project was very informative about the virus and it made me more aware of how critical some of the viruses in the world are.

Spillover - Zika, Ebola, and Beyond

 

I really enjoyed the movie, I was engaged the entire time and found the science and research to be extremely interesting. I found it sort of funny how they kept referring to the “next infection” as something that would happen in the future, and it has now turned into something we have lived through and experienced over the last three years. 

I learned a lot about the characteristics and behaviors of viruses. The movie touched base on different types of transmission possible, the symptoms people feel when experiencing different virus infections, relations/mutations between viruses, and the importance of contact tracing. 

I found the information to be extremely valuable. I think researching viruses is crucial to the state of public health especially in times of crisis, such as what we experienced the past few years. The more we know as a society, the more prepared we will be to fight against whatever virus is threatening our wellbeing. 

I was extremely surprised to learn about the aggressive nature of the Ebola virus. Obviously, Ebola is an extremely dangerous infection, but I never knew quite how intense it really was. The fact that 1 billion Ebola viruses can be found in 1 cubic centimeter of blood was absolutely jaw-dropping to me. 

Some questions that I have:

• Are there any viruses on the rise that we have to be worrying about right now? 
• What are we currently doing to prevent further diseases from spreading? 
• Is the public immediately informed when a new virus or disease is discovered, or do they try to keep it under wraps? 

Movie Link

Spillover Documentary

 

I loved this movie, but I will be honest it scared me quite a bit. Hearing how devastating certain viruses can be and how easily they can spread to a much bigger population made me terrified of what is possible. The documentary was done very well and showcased everything that comes with virus outbreaks. I think watching this movie after COVID puts a lot of things into perspective. I understood right away what they meant by contact tracing because we have been doing it for almost three years. I had a deeper understanding of how quickly viruses could spread and how much they can affect humans, emotionally and physically.

One thing that I learned was how while a virus might not seem bad at first, there are many other factors in play. For example, the Zika virus made people sick, and sometimes some developed a rash, but it was all mild. No one was deeply concerned about it until many children were being born with microcephaly. This is a birth defect where a baby’s head is smaller than expected due to having a smaller brain that might not have developed properly while still in the womb. There are different side effects to a virus that might not even surface until months later. This taught me that even though a virus might now seem bad, it does mean it is still okay to get it. There always be a chance for a virus to cause more complications down the road.

Child with microcephaly (left) and child without (right)

One of the most important things I learned from this movie is that there is a career in tracking down possible outbreaks. I never really considered and even imagined that to be an actual job where people are trained and dedicated their life’s work to look for the next big epidemic/pandemic. If anything, it made me interested in maybe pursuing a career down that path. Organizations and projects like PREDICT are dedicated to detecting viruses that have pandemic potential, and that can move between animals and people. One point that was made in the movie as well was that these deadly pathogens don’t know borders. They don’t care for politics, and poor health care systems anywhere are a threat to everywhere else. We need to work together not only during but before an outbreak to make sure we are all able to overcome it.

Map of where PREDICT is watching global hotspots for outbreaks of zoonotic disease (2015)

I found this information to be very valuable. Given we are still dealing with COVID and all the consequences that came with it, this movie gave a lot of insight into why COVID happened the way it did. It provides information as to why the vaccine for COVID came out so fast. It was because the SARS virus has been studied for years, and we were prepared to create a vaccine. Another reason why this information is valuable is because it gives me more context to events that happened in my childhood. I grew up hearing about Ebola on the news, but all I knew was that it was bad, and I didn’t want to get it. Now having a chance to actually understand what Ebola is and how it affects the body is amazing.

One thing that I found surprising was how lab-grown mosquitoes with modified DNA are being used to combat certain viruses that are spread through mosquitoes. The debate of whether or not modifying different organisms to better serve our society is a good idea has been going on for a while. I guess I didn’t expect actual action when it came to modifying these mosquitoes.

Fiocruz facility in Brazil releasing lab-grown mosquitoes

A couple of questions that I have are the following:

1. How much can lab-grown organisms negatively impact our environment? Does releasing male mosquitoes whose kids will die before fully maturing disturb the natural ecosystem to a larger degree?
2. I am not sure if I truly want to know this, but what is the next possible epidemic/pandemic? Does the fact that COVID happened stall other outbreaks from happening for a certain time or is all based on “luck”?
3. How dangerous is it to travel around the world to collect data samples of the next possible huge & deadly outbreak?

Water is Polar!

    If you were asked: Can a piece of a mesh produce bag prevent water in a right-side-up glass bottle from pouring out? Would your answer be yes or no? To find out if your answer was or wasn't correct, watch the video below that two of my AP Biology classmates and I created! What you find out may surprise you as much as it did me! 

   

    Are you surprised? A piece of a mesh produce bag can prevent water in a right-side-up glass bottle from pouring out, which means the experiment that two of my AP Biology classmates and I performed was a success! Communication and teamwork are the main reasons why the experiment we performed was a success because we only had a 75-minute class period to perform the experiment while taking videos and photos, which we would then combine into one video with voice-overs about the performance and experiment before the class ended. The day before the class, we communicated with each other about the materials that we would be able to bring from our houses for the experiment, which is how we found out that none of us would be able to bring a piece of a mesh produce bag. After we found out, we contacted our teacher and asked her if she would be able to bring us a piece of a mesh produce bag, which she was kindly able to do. 

    In the class, as we gathered the materials for the experiment, we communicated with each other about the videos and photos we would take, who would take them, and who would be in them. With a plan set in place, we were able to finish taking videos and photos quickly, especially since we were able to perform the experiment successfully on our first try. After we finished taking videos and photos, we communicated with each other about who was going to combine the videos and photos into one video, who would edit the video if there was time, and who was going to do the voice-overs by reading off the script with information each of us had researched the day before the class. With another plan set in place, we were able to finish the video you just saw on time!

    The materials that we gathered for the experiment were a piece of a mesh produce bag, a rubber band, water, an empty glass bottle, and a toothpick. First, the empty glass bottle was filled with water, and then, the piece of the mesh produce bag was placed on the top of the glass bottle, which the rubber band was tied around to ensure that it stayed in place. Finally, the glass bottle was turned right-side-up and the toothpick was put inside it. Remember the surface tension that prevented the water from pouring out of the right-side-up glass bottle was due to cohesion, which is the attraction between similar molecules. That being said, the attraction between water molecules combined with the attraction between water and mesh molecules caused the water to defy gravity. Adhesion is the attraction between different molecules, such as water and mesh molecules. Still doubtful? Well, now that you know the exact materials and steps of the experiment, maybe you can try to perform it and observe the mystery of water suspension!

Works Cited

“;.” ; - Wiktionary, https://youtu.be/IxXDaQV7we8. Accessed 30 August 2022.

“;.” ; - Wiktionary, https://files.mtstatic.com/site_4334/315145/0/webview?Expires=1661884778&Signature=Ufxd0vOrO6xbJHt5WK2k5FSkWc3HmffYc60fciaPfw5ncPyvR3D~dchUJyLsQhlRluV92Kthbsy6piVs79FSn-wvmhIxCc2akz~hybXpy51EP9pNUFVCcxSmndCeg9Mfp1JfS2CIArkHhXlVPZg5MtNpSV2MRqn3nMeYh5tE73w_&. Accessed 30 August 2022.

“;.” ; - Wiktionary, https://i.pinimg.com/originals/42/b0/0b/42b00b727f56cebadde0773a6b10c0d5.jpg. Accessed 30 August 2022.

“;.” ; - Wiktionary, https://www.seekpng.com/png/detail/27-272465_planet-earth-clipart-transparent-happy-earth-png.png. Accessed 30 August 2022.

“Properties of Water.” YouTube, 26 July 2016, https://youtu.be/3jwAGWky98c. Accessed 30 August 2022.

“This Is Why Water Striders Make Terrible Lifeguards | Deep Look.” YouTube, 1 August 2017, https://youtu.be/E2unnSK7WTE. Accessed 30 August 2022.

“This Is Why Water Striders Make Terrible Lifeguards | Deep Look.” YouTube, 1 August 2017, https://youtu.be/E2unnSK7WTE. Accessed 30 August 2022.

“3.1 - Water Structure and Hydrogen Bonding.” YouTube, 11 February 2011, https://youtu.be/wZ9CCj4X28Q. Accessed 30 August 2022.

“Cohesion and Adhesion of Water (Article).” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-biology/chemistry-of-life/structure-of-water-and-hydrogen-bonding/a/cohesion-and-adhesion-in-water#:~:text=Cohesion%20of%20water&text=Cohesion%20refers%20to%20the%20attraction,hydrogen%20bonds%20with%20one%20another. 

“Surface Tension.” Surface Tension - an Overview | ScienceDirect Topics, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/surface-tension. 

Botany of Desire

Botany of Desire 

Apple:

Each apple seed carries a variety of traits. An apple's appearance and taste are rarely passed from seeds. If an apple is planted by seed, the apples grown are often bitter tasting and used to make hard cider. Graphing is a form of planting apples that creates an exact copy of the apple. These apples will be sweeter and appeal to mammals leading to the spread of the apple's genes.

Humans have the ability to express certain traits through the way an apple tree is planted. There are infinite types of apples and each tree has many different types. No two apples are the same and genetic modification can be used to make precise improvements to apples. Crossbreeding is used to purposefully make a specific kind of apple. Apples have the ability to manipulate humans through their sweetness. Different sweetnesses of apples determine how humans use the apples and if a similar apple tree is planted. 

Curious Questions:

How many varieties of apples are grown in the US?

Over 2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the US. The top varieties are Red Delicious, Gala, Granny Smith, and Fuji. 

What season do apples grow the most?

Most apples ripen between late summer and late fall. Apples grow best in mild climates where the temperature does not increase above 90 degrees. Apples can grow in warmer and colder climates, but if the temperature is too extreme the fruit can be damaged. This would lead to a smaller crop. 

Tulip:

Bees and humans both regard flowers as beautiful. There is a preference for tulips and individuals like certain patterns and scents. Tulips originated in Southeast Asia and made their way to Turkey and then spread throughout the rest of the world. The tulip has become a big part of the dutch culture because, in the 17th century, the tulip was a major trading product in Holland. 77% of all flower buds come out of the Netherlands. A tulip bulb once sold for $10 to $15 million.

Humans can manipulate tulips through the way they are planted. Planting a bulb is the only way a matching tulip will go. Humans can make tulips disease resistant and plant different colors of tulips. The tulip's beauty captivates humans and has swept many cultures into a frenzy. There are performances to celebrate tulips and the tulip has grown to represent success. Visitors travel to see tulips such as Keukenhof in Holland, which is the largest tulip garden in the world. 

Curious Questions:

Can one replant tulips that have already bloomed?

Do not transplant bulbs that have bloomed, because the bulb could die or fail to produce flowers the next year. 

What is the rarest tulip?

The rarest tulip is the black tulip. These tulips are very expensive and are often given to congratulate someone on an achievement.

Cannabis:

Many cultures tolerate cannabis and many think poorly of the plant. Cannabis has the ability to alter one's consciousness. THC is the molecule in the drug that makes people high. THC activates an unknown receptor in the brain which communicates with body chemicals. A connection has been found between THC and memory loss and there are hopes that this research will lead to treatments for trauma. The question of whether cannabis is a demon or savior is an ongoing debate. 

Humans have the technology to transform cannabis into many forms. Marijuana can be made into food form or smoked. Most cannabis comes from Mexico and is transported all over the world through human manipulation. Cannabis has the power to manipulate humans through the plant's ability to alter the human mind. The drug manipulates a human's mind and allows an individual to experience an altered consciousness. Pain relief is a common reason many use cannabis. The plant has had such an impact on many groups including the jazz world which is soaked in cannabis. 

Curious Questions:

Is Marijuana an addictive drug?

Marijuana use can lead to Marijuana use disorder which means one is unable to stop the use of the drug even if the continuation affects a user's life and relationships. Marijuana is also considered a gateway drug meaning the use of marijuana can lead a person to use more dangerous drugs. 

What percent of cannabis users are medical?

17% of individuals who used cannabis in the past year used cannabis medically. 

Potatoes:

The potato has made a major impact and the potato changed the course of European history. The Irish planted one kind of potato which was a staple diet. The potato did well in the North and the poor soils of Ireland. This singular crop caused a famine forcing millions to leave their homeland as refugees.

Insects and fungi have the power to kill potatoes in large quantities. Humans manipulate potatoes by spraying chemical pesticides on potatoes which protects the potatoes. Many crops including the potato are genetically modified. The BT gene is added to potatoes which creates a protein that kills the harmful potato beetles. Potatoes have contributed to the human diet for thousands of years. The potato has been processed into many forms for humans, including french fries. Fast food restaurants often make delicious french fries which manipulate a human's diet. 

Curious Questions:

What stopped the potato famine in Ireland?

The potato famine ended in 1849 when the British troops stopped removing the food. The famine disappeared with time and when the farmers stopped planting the infected potato. 

What percent of potatoes are contaminated with pesticides?

83% of potatoes sampled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture were contaminated with pesticides.

Quick Links:

Human Mind-Control by Plants

How GMO Crops Impact Our World

Works Cited:

Apple Tree. Kinnucan, kinnucan.com/apple-tree-care/. Accessed 31 May 2022.

Potato Benefits. Healthline, 12 May 2018, www.healthline.com/nutrition/ 
     how-to-store-potatoes. Accessed 31 May 2022.

The Botany of Desire. Written by Michael Pollan, a PBS documentary. 

Vlasova, Evgeniya. The Spruce. The Spruce, www.thespruce.com/ 
     tulips-planting-and-growing-tulips-1402137. Accessed 31 May 2022.

Botany of Desire

 Apples, tulips, cannabis, and potatoes and juggernauts in their own ways. However, all four plants share a common feature; they are constantly surrounding human culture. Recently I watched a documentary called Botany of Desire that talked and educated me on how intertwined humans and these four plants are. So today, I want to share my takeaways with you!

I would probably have scurvy as a child if not for apples (maybe I'm being a little dramatic). Apples were my fruit, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" was said to me once, and I was determined to never see the doctor again. After watching the segment on apples, I realized how conditioned I was to view apples as something safe, healthy, and homey. Humans market apples as healthy as well as relying on the need for sugar that is wired in our brains. The marketing works! But with the large popularity of apples, issues of monoculture have come about. Sweet apple trees can only be guaranteed to pass down the sweet fruit if a cutting of the old tree is used. Meaning that very few apples have new DNA recombination. Most are similar if not the same DNA; having low genetic diversity leads to pests and viruses being able to attack many apple trees quickly. Apples are at risk of pests to the extent that over half a million dollars are spent on pesticides a year! If we want apples to stay in our lives, trying outside the normal types of apples could protect all apples and our love for them for years to come.

(Image Credit: gettyimages)

Tulips were the NFTs of 1630's Holland. The rich used their tulips as a show of wealth and luxury, again not unlike the NFTs of today's world. But my favorite thing about tulips and NFTs is how utterly useless both things are, yet they have managed to seem important. Tulips in Holland were able to manipulate humans into believing the flower was valuable by adapting to produce over 2000 varieties with the goal of intriguing the human eye. Tulips accomplished their goal of staying in the spotlight, and in doing so tulips were given plenty of land and space to reproduce and expand the tulip population. While the tulip manipulated humans into becoming pollinators for the species, humans also manipulated the tulip to create new colors and patterns. The most famous and expensive tulips were multicolored that came about due to a mutation caused by a virus. But the flower suffered from human manipulation; the plant was weak and often would grow shorter and stunt more over time. By humans trying to replicate the splashes of color in other tulips, they allowed a virus to pass through and destroy tulip lines.

(Image Credit: The Biking Gardener)

Cannabis is a taboo issue in U.S. society. But regardless of people's standings on the social implications of cannabis, the science behind keeping the plants alive and well is nothing short of amazing. Cannabis, when forced inside due to the war on drugs movement of the 1970s, was completely reinvented by humans. The plant was selectively bred to be smaller in order to survive inside. A colony of all-female plants is tended to and given a variety of nutrients to keep them healthy, and lights are put on the plants to mimic the outside world. Female cannabis has more psychoactive elements due to the stickers they produce to collect male pollen, so humans manipulated the plants to have female offspring and keep male plants nearby to induce more stickers to be created. THC is how cannabis manipulates people, the substance that creates the high that alters our state of consciousness. Humans' innate drive to change states of consciousness makes people want to keep the plant alive and well. Cannabis uses this want of humans to increase the number and locations cannabis is found.

(Image Credit: Jan Fries/ Getty Image)

When I think of history and the potato, the first event to come to mind is the Irish Potato famine. Based on the abundance of potatoes the Irish farmed, I thought that potatoes originated from the island; but the potato started life in Peru, so how did the potato get to Ireland? The potato entices the Europeans into bringing back the plant with them to Europe. The potato is hardy, heavy and full of starch. All these qualities made the potato look like an answer to everyone's prayers. The potato was an answer to famine; just one-half acre of potatoes could feed a family for a year! The starch added sugars to people's diets, and the plant could survive just about anywhere, even the previously desolated Ireland. The potato created the opportunity of a lifetime for the species; now, the plant was living on two separate continents and being spread throughout the world. But like with the tulip, humans also want a chance to control the plants as much as the plants control them. The potatoes became a monoculture, with only the lumper being chosen by the Irish as the superior potato. Soon many fields carried lumpers alone, killing the plant's biodiversity. But human attempts to control the potato led to disaster. With only one type of potato present and one small set of protective genes, a virus swept through the plants. Killing the potatoes and one of every eight people in Ireland.

(Image credit: Massimo Ravera via Getty Images)

Works Cited

Professional gardener. “Beauty or Beast?” The Biking Gardener, 31 May 2016,  thebikinggardener.com/2016/06/01/beauty-or-beast/.

Greenberg, Andy. “Weed Sales on the Dark Web Surged Early in the Pandemic.” Wired, Conde Nast, 5 June 2020, www.wired.com/story/dark-web-cannabis-sales-surged-pandemic/.

“How Climate Change Could Kill the Red Apple.” BBC Future, BBC, www.bbc.com/future/article/20191119-how-climate-change-could-kill-the-red-apple.Szalay, Jessie. “Potato Nutrition Facts & Health Benefits.” LiveScience, Purch, 16 Feb. 2022, www.livescience.com/45838-potato-nutrition.html.

 

The Church and Science

I’m sure that you probably have a lot of preconceptions about how the church views science. To be honest, for a very, very long time, I’ve had many of my own. I went to a Catholic middle school and we were taught that the church used to believe that all life revolved around God’s Creation and that the Earth was the center of the universe.

As I grew in my Catholic faith and learned more about this topic, I realized that this is not the case anymore. The church does believe in the science of evolution and climate change despite what the Bible says. Now, there are many Catholic leaders who are scientists and preach about where science and the beliefs of the Church align. Did you know that a Catholic priest invented the Big Bang Theory? (The actual theory, not the TV show haha)

My team and I did more research on the topic of how the church views climate change and here’s a slide deck we made:

This presentation was a lot of fun to research and create. This topic also sparked some really insightful discussions between me and my partner – particularly on the second slide. I’d say that overall, we went as in-depth as we possibly could in terms of content during our actual presentation, but since this is just the slide deck, I’ll explain a few elements.

First, the Catholic Social Teaching is a social doctrine that the Church traditionally follows which guides followers toward a morally just society using ethical principles. The four teachings listed above specifically address the issues of environmental degradation and climate change.

The first teaching explains that humans were made in the image of God to fulfill His work towards the common good and to take care of his creation. We must all work together towards this common goal of addressing the issues of climate change. The next two teachings call attention to the poor. “The poor and vulnerable often do not have the economic and technological resources to either adapt to or ward off the expected impacts of climate change” (“Why the Church Cares”). In helping these people, we promote human development and fulfill our goal of living out our Catholic faith. Lastly, the Virtue of Prudence states that humans must not only be able to identify the harmful effects of climate change on our society and environment, but also must have the prudence to take action and address these issues.

I also want to briefly explain that Laudato Si is a movement created by Pope Francis as a call for everyone to take care of the Earth and God’s Creation. In his encyclical, he addresses climate change and global degradation. He also draws attention to the irresponsibility of humans in terms of polluting the Earth as well as how our actions impact the environment.

As for our presentation, we did pretty well and also had some very fun discussions with Team AP Bio. I’d say that the only part we could have improved was choosing a template to make the slide deck look a little more interesting instead of sticking with the default. Other than that, I think it turned out great and I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic too!

Applications of Biotechnology: Environmental Cleanup

Biotechnology is something there are many debates on, but I feel that protecting the environment with useful, ethical technology is something that can be agreed upon. Ellie Pope and I worked together on our applications of biotechnology project to learn and teach our other teammates about Environmental Cleanup. This project has sparked so much interest in me that I am also writing a research paper on our example and breakthrough posts!

Environmental cleanup is a biotechnology category in which certain microorganisms will have the ability to transform dangerous chemicals in our environments into recoverable materials. As well as using genes from genetically engineered microbes with valuable metabolic capabilities to clean, eat, or transform toxic wastes. Applications we focused on were Bacteria, Composting, Recycling, and Landfill, and others like Pest Control and Biopesticides. Bacteria can be genetically modified to to eat toxic chemicals in the environment like oil and concretes. Composting, Recycling, and Landfill, though simple, are products of biotechnology that are used to benefit the environment when used correctly, if used at all. Pest controls and biopesticides can also be genetically modified with other organisms, but instead of hurting the environment like regular pesticides, biopesticides are easily broken down and recycled back into the ecosystems. Then we focused in even more to Bio enzymes. Bio enzymes can carry out total transformations of the structure of a contaminant and cause a complete conversion of a substance into an inorganic end product. As combinations, bio enzymes work to break down complex waste particles into smaller pieces that bacteria can more easily consume-like plastics. PET plastics or Polyethylene Terephthalate is a cheap and easily manufactured plastic that causes so much the pollution in our world. PET plastics are first made into tiny balls of plastic, then remanufactured into strings of plastic for clothes, water bottles, and most other plastic-containing containers. Scientists from the University of Portsmouth engineered a super enzyme that has the ability to break down plastic. Using an enzyme called PETase, which was discovered by Japanese scientists in 2016; The enzyme hails from the bacteria Ideonella sakaiensis and breaks down PET plastics. PETase allows bacteria to eat the plastic, by breaking down polyethylene into edible materials, while the bacteria do this, they produce an enzyme called MHETase. MHETase continues to break down the plastic reducing microplastics. The DNA combination of PETase and MHETase is what creates the “super enzyme”. Ideonella sakaiensis is not the only living thing that works to break down plastics. Worms like Mealworms and Waxworms have powerful stomach enzymes that break down plastics, this is not a solution though because the worms remove the waste and break down plastic back into the environment but are not a part of the food chain. Last, we came up with an ethical question: Should this “fix” be introduced to the environment more progressively even if the problem is not addressed at the source?

For more information on this study check out the website!

https://oceanblueproject.org/plastic-eating-enzyme/

This project was so much fun and was able to dive deeply into my own topic, I really enjoyed learning about everyone else topics! Ellie and I work very well together, so per usual, we did not have any problems with splitting up the work and getting it done. The only problem that we faced was trying to come up with an ethical question, because environmental cleanup technology is generally good, without clear examples of the “what if”, ideas did not flow for questions. Even after looking up “ethical debates of environmental cleanup” – nothing. The worst thing I found is that soil could become less dense and therefore less strong as a base with the biopesticides or bio-bacterias in the water. If I had to do this project again, I would give myself more time for research on plastic-eating bio enzymes instead of rushing through during a class period; I am also super excited to do more research on this for my paper in English! I love how all of my classes are connecting, I feel like the things I learn in AP bio are real-life things, instead of learning of something I might never think about again. I LOVE BIOLOGY!!!