Part 1:
Hi, my name is Jane. I am one of my host’s genes. My host suffers from a rare neurodegenerative disorder called Huntington’s disease. It basically means that she has a hard time controlling her movements, recalling events and making decisions. Soon Alysha won’t be able to walk, talk or eat without any help.
It’s really sad because I know that she’s not going to get better, she’ll only get worse. I remember when Alysha lived a normal live and was able to travel the world. Travelling the world was so much fun but my host isn’t allowed to anymore, not that she would remember any of it nor would she know where she was. Now Alysha is forced to live in assisted living with her aunt who also has Huntington’s disease. This means that it is an inherited disease.
My host’s life isn’t the same as everyone else and it’s not her fault – it’s mine. You see, I am supposed to provide instructions for making a protein called huntingtin. This protein plays an important role in the neurons in the brain which is essential for the normal development before birth. Huntingtin is found in many of the body tissues but mostly in the brain. Its job is to send chemical signals from the brain to the body, transporting materials and protecting the cells from self-destruction.
During genetic mutation, the DNA sequence changes permanently (substitution). DNA can undergo mutations in the sequence of bases, A, C, G, and T and during DNA replication if errors are made or not corrected in time. Eventually this disease will sadly lead to the death of Alysha and I am the reason why.
Part 2:
Ask:
– What is huntington’s disease?
– How does huntington’s disease affect people?
– How does huntington’s occur?
– What happens in the body to cause huntington’s disease?
– What are the symptoms of huntington’s disease?
– Is there any treatment for Huntington’s disease?
– Is huntington’s disease hereditary?
– Characteristics of a person with huntington’s disease?
– Is Huntington’s rare?
Acquire:
The tools that I used are:
– Google
– Youtube
– The syndrome’s website
– Bing
– Dogpile
– Yahoo
– Wikipedia
– Encyclopedia
Analyse:
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/huntington-disease
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/huntingtons-disease/basics/symptoms/con-20030685
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/chromosome
http://www.medicinenet.com/huntington_disease/page2.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntington’s_disease
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/archive/mdd/v05/i02/html/02disease.html
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000770.htm
Assess:
I thought that the process went very well. I learned a lot about mutations and Huntington’s disease. The 4d’s are very helpful and I love how we had to put in our sources. Next time I would like to research a bit more before I start instead of rushing in to it.