Group work (11/7 and 11/14) on paper by Fukuda et al.
Reading and working with this paper, I learned a lot about the imprinting process in general. (Learning goal: Describe the genomic imprinting cycle in mammals).
The significance of the paternal Xist, and especially the rescue of XISTpdel by decondensing the XISTm region, were particularly interesting concepts.
Why did I choose to include this in my portfolio?
It took a bit of effort to put all the components together to a final model. I was fairly happy with the result, so I wanted to include it because it shows that I learned something besides factual knowledge – I developed the skill of piecing information together to larger concepts.
Group work (10/17) on paper by Chiesa et al.
I learned that the clusters of imprinted genes are controlled from imprinting control regions (ICRs). Mutations/alterations in these regions can alter the expression pattern of the entire cluster, even though most genes are genetically unaffected by the mutation.
(Learning goal: Describe the genomic imprinting cycle in mammals and the basic
organization of some of the best-known imprinted gene clusters).
Why did I choose to include this in my portfolio?
It was challenging to keep track of the mutations and the phenotypes. Working on question 3, I suddenly had a moment where everything fell into place and the correlation between the mutation and the phenotype made sense. The working process definitely emphasized the function of the ICR – now I won’t forget.
Group work (10/31) on review paper by Pasque & Plath
From reading and working with this paper, I learned much about the process of Xi erosion in iPSCs. This is a really interesting aspect of reprogramming cells, as it indicates that the long-term state of iPSCs may not be as stable as we would like it to be.
Why did I choose to include this in my portfolio?
I think our answer to the 5 questions reflect a great deal of the general knowledge we acquired on XCI and XCR throughout this course. The questions are based off the specific paper, but we could not have answered them as precisely or efficiently if we hadn’t had prior knowledge on the topic. Therefore, I want to include these four learning goals for the imprinting unit, as they are all represented in our answer:
- Describe the function of X-inactivation (and alternate mechanisms
to achieve the same thing in other organisms). - Describe and discuss past and current models for mechanisms of X inactivation, and the major players that we know about.
- Discuss and analyze some of the available evidence in support of
these models. - Describe some of the main differences between XCI in mouse vs.
humans.