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Games
(Last reviewed: 30 Jun 2008)
The growing importance of emerging infectious diseases is examined in this interactive, using the avian influenza virus as an example. The interactive also highlights that the current avian influenza strain causing human deaths in Asia could reassort in pigs (a normal reservoir for human flu) and develop into the next pandemic influenza strain.
Zoom in to see a skin sample at higher and higher magnification, until you are looking at a cell, its nucleus, and eventually a molecule of DNA – the blueprint of life.
Choose one of the two problems, or solve them both. You can investigate the DNA of blood and hair samples found at a crime scene to find out if a police suspect was there or not. Or you can look at the blood samples of a group of people to find out who is entitled to a share of a dead man’s estate.
Choose the dog you would like as a pet and then work through the process of cloning it, making choices about the source of an egg and a suitable surrogate mother.
Work through the steps of extracting a cell and treating the DNA in it and then use a gene probe to find out which of the organism’s chromosomes carries a particular gene. Look for one of two disease-carrying genes in humans, for a pest-resistant gene in the kidney bean, for the ‘yellow-pod’ gene in peas or the ‘white fur’ gene in rats.
Work through the key steps in cloning a thylacine – even though it is extinct!
For more interactives please visit Biotechnology Online
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