The Potential And Ethics Of CRISPR

Description: CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. It is an immune system in bacteria that has been co-opted by scientists to create a powerful DNA editing tool. It is a powerful tool that can be used in research and may eventually eliminate certain diseases. However it also could allow humans to create designer babies and through the use of gene drives eliminate certain problem species (like mosquitoes) forever. CRISPR, as a new technology, can be used to give meaning to a unit on inheritance and variation.

Web Resources:  CRISPR - Wikipedia, The Ethics of CRISPR - Fast Company

In this video Paul Andersen explains how the CRISPR/Cas immune system was identified in bacteria and how the CRISPR/Cas9 system was developed to edit genomes. Do you speak another language?

Hemingway’s Polydactyl Cats

Description:  The author Ernest Hemingway was given a six-toed cat that his son named Snow White. His former home in Key West, Florida was turned into a museum and houses nearly 50 cats that are ancestors of this original cat. Cats with extra digits are called polydactyl cats and have inherited a dominant gene. Roughly half of the cats are polydactyl. This phenomenon could be used to study inheritance and variation.

Web Resources:  Hemingway Cats: The Felines That Rule Papa's Key West Estate - Paw Culture, Polydactyl Cats - Wikipedia

Two of Ernest Hemingway's cats at the Hemingway House in Key West, Florida. One of them is polydactyl, and has six toes.

Malaria and Sickle Cell Anemia

Description:  Sickle-cell anemia is caused by a single nucleotide mutation in the β-globin gene of red blood cells. This creates incorrectly structured proteins and red blood cells with a characteristic "sickle" shape. This harmful mutation does not affect carriers of the disease. However this mutation can be beneficial in certain areas because it offers protection from malarial infections. This phenomenon can be used in a unit on genetics or evolution.

Web Resources:  The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection in Humans - HHMI, Sickle-cell Disease - Wikipedia

In some parts of the world, the infectious parasitic disease malaria and the genetic disease sickle cell anemia are intimately connected. What is sickle cell anemia? What is malaria? And how can one be linked to the other? Answer these questions for your students using this educational video on human evolution.