Case study You are a research student in the Laboratory of a famous but highly hairy and unpredictable Drosophila geneticist. Your supervisor has taken off for the Caribbean leaving behind a lot of fly crosses for you to take care

1. Assessment details

Course:BSc Life Sciences

Level: FHEQ 5

Assessment Block Code and Name:LS2809:Genetics Data Evaluation and Reporting – 02 – Flylab

Assessment Title:Genetics Data Evaluation and Reporting – 02 – Flylab

Assessment Number: 02

Contribution to final assessment block mark: 25%

Word limit (if appropriate): 500

Date set:week 10

Submission / assessment date:

Week 16, 15 Jan 2025

Feedback return date: Week 18,

29thJan 2025

Submission Type: 500 word report

Assessment block coordinator:Dr David Tree

1. Submission Instructions

See Assessment Briefs – General Guidelines for Coursework. in tutoring Brightspace pages LS2700 for submission instructions, plagiarism and misconduct details and student support including extenuating circumstances information.

Late submissions- Uncapped attempts Student submitting uncapped assessments will be accepted up to 48 hours late, but passing grades will have a 10?duction in grade, down to a minimum grade of D-. After 48h they will be classed as a Non-submission (NS).”

2. Learning outcomes assessed (from Assessment Block Outline)

Knowledge

1. Demonstrate how data is evaluated, interpreted and reported in writing to a scientific audience

2.Apply knowledge and experience gained from study blocks to produce a coherent scientific paper

Cognitive skills

1. Review data in context of the literature

2.Integrate information obtained from various sources

Other skills

1. Effective written communication skills

2.Cite and reference work appropriately

3.Demonstrate use of sequence databases and basic bioinformatics techniques

3. Description of assessment task

Scientific reports are an important way of communicating the results and interpretation of experiments. This assessment will develop your ability to evaluate data we give you in a case study and report it in the form of a written academic paper in the style of a Nature Brief Communication. This is a very brief and dense form of scientific communication: a maximum of 500 words. See guidelines here:

http://li.mit.edu/Archive/Activities/PubFormat/Nature/BriefCommunications_Stopped/Brief_comms.pdf

And some examples here:

https://www.nature.com/nature/articles?type=brief-communication

The coursework for this assessment block involves writing a Laboratory Report (maximum length 500 words excluding figure legends) on the data provided below. The analysis of the data is something you have been supported to do throughout the teaching sessions for BB2709 and is very similar to data you have analysed in the Genetics Problem Solving document which we have worked through in lectures. Your work should begin with a three-sentence summary of the work that will act as an abstract. The case study below describes the results of three genetics experiments. Your work should begin with a three sentence paragraph which will act as an abstract. Present a brief introduction about the nature of such genetic analyses. In the results section you should write a single paragraph about each experiment describing the results that were gained and what your interpretation of the results tells you about the genetic nature of the alleles being studied. Make punnet squares or genetic maps where appropriate to illustrate your analysis and conclusions. You may combine these into a single figure or present three separate figures. Conclude with a paragraph of discussion. Your submission should be no longer than 500 words, excluding references, of which there should be no more than 10. A methods section is not necessary.

Case study
You are a research student in the Laboratory of a famous but highly hairy and unpredictable Drosophila geneticist. Your supervisor has taken off for the Caribbean leaving behind a lot of fly crosses for you to take care and analyse the progeny of. The fly crosses are organised into trays containing tubes of flies, most of which have been kept in a 25C incubator. You will work your way through the trays in order. He also sent you an email asking you to write up the results of the work in the form of a Nature Brief Communications publication. You should ignore the gender of the offspring if it has no bearing on your analysis.

In your report try to address the questions given in bold type. In your analysis CONSIDER ALL POSSIBILITIES and CLEARLY STATE HYPOTHESIS. We have learned that genetics is not simple and there are many possible reasons why Mendelian ratios can be altered.

Your boss has performed a cross the parental generation of which are ebony bodied female flies and male flies with the vestigial mutation for wing size. The progeny in the F1 all have wild-type body colour and wing size.

In your report explain what this tells you about the nature of the ebony and vestigial mutations and why?

You set up a cross between two F1 offspring to produce an F2 generation. You count the phenotypes of the offspring produced and find the following:

Female wild-type: 2829

Male wild-type: 2811

Female vestigial: 963

Male vestigial: 933

Female ebony: 944

Male ebony: 952

Female vestigial ebony: 328

Male vestigial ebony: 319

Note the observed phenotypic ratios of the F2 offspring. Experimental deviation to the data means that the observed phenotypic ratios will not exactly match the ratio you might expect. Form a hypothesis to predict the expected phenotypic ratio in the F2.

Perform a Chi-squared test to validate or reject your hypothesis. Note the level of significance. Continue testing hypothesis until you determine the correct one. What do the results of this experiment tell you about the genetic nature of the ebony and vestigial alleles and why? Draw a punnet-square to help explain your answer.

Your boss has performed a cross the parental generation of which are female flies with the eyeless mutation and male flies with the white mutation. The progeny in the F1 are all wild-type. You set up a cross between two F1 offspring to produce an F2 generation. You count the phenotypes of the offspring produced and find the following:

Female wild type: 3808

Male wild type: 1887

Male white: 1872

Female eyeless: 1247

Male eyeless: 1181

In your report explain what the results of this experiment tell you about the genetic nature of the eyeless and white alleles and explain why? Draw a punnet-square diagram to help explain your answer.

Your boss is trying to make a genetic map. He crossed a female fly with the ebony body, sepia eyes and spineless bristle mutations to a wild-type male. He then took one of the F1 females and crossed her to a male with all three mutations. You count the phenotypes of the offspring of this cross and find the following:

Female wild type: 1680

Male wild type: 1685

Female spineless: 70

Male spineless: 81

Female sepia: 557

Male sepia: 513

Female spineless, sepia: 197

Male spineless, sepia: 217

Female ebony: 214

Male ebony: 204

Female spineless, ebony: 516

Male spineless, ebony: 559

Female sepia, ebony: 68

Male sepia, ebony: 70

Female sepia, ebony, spineless: 1616

Male sepia, ebony, spineless: 1714

In your report draw a map what shows the map distance (in map units or centimorgans) the between each locus. Show all your working.

4

. Understanding the assessment journey

Why is this an authentic assessment?
In line with the ethos of the Royal Society of Biology, all assessments in your course of studies are designed to fulfil the criteria for an authentic assessment. This means that this assessment will mimic a real-life scenario preparing you for future studies and future employment. In this specific case, you are writing a report in the style of a Nature Brief Communication. These are real-life publications which one day you may be contributing to. If you work in a Biotechnology or Pharmaceutical firm you will need to do submit such reports on work you are undertaking.

Relevant learning from previous assessments.
This work builds on skills you developed last year for LS1802 Molecular Analysis and LS1803 Quantitative Research Skills.

How this assessment will prepare for future assessments.
This work will prepare you for work you will do this year other assessments for LS2809 this year and in next academic year for LS3810/11.

5. Student support
Academic Support and ASK
The academic skills (ASK) services can help you improve your writing and presentation skills. If you think you need help, dont hesitate to ask them! They also have a large number of really good online resources, including video tutorials, useful resources on the internet, quick guides and slides from their workshops. You can find it all here:https://www.brunel.ac.uk/study/academic-skills/home

Writing Fellowsare professional writers who offer individual appointments to improve the writing of Brunel students. These appointments are free, independent and confidential sessions where they can advise you about your literature review. Our writing fellow is William Ryan and you can contact him via email at the following address: william.ryan@brunel.ac.uk

Student Support and Welfare Team
The Student Support and Welfare Team are available to offer support and guidance on a range of personal, welfare and financial issues. They are here to help you access support that is right for you; you can make appointments through this team to access the Counselling and Mental Wellbeing Service, Disability and Dyslexia Service and budgeting/money advice sessions.

In person: Student Centre, Howell Building

Email: studentsupport@brunel.ac.uk

through this link:https://reportandsupport.brunel.ac.uk/

More information regarding student services and support can be found here: href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU7IdFkXWP0&feature=youtu.be” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU7IdFkXWP0&feature=youtu.be

Extenuating Circumstances (ECs) and Coursework Extensions
The Extenuating Circumstances Procedure exists for situations where a student’s performance in assessments is significantly affected by an event that was unavoidable, unexpected and beyond the control of the student.

You can find all the information about the ECs policy and how to submit your application here:

https://students.brunel.ac.uk/study/exam-dates/extenuating-circumstances

6. Grading of the assessment
The assignment will be marked with reference to the guidance below, which describes our expectations in relation to the assignment. For more information, please read Brunel University Undergraduate Grade Descriptors (https://students.brunel.ac.uk/documents/Policies/Undergraduate-Grade-Descriptors.pdf).

The students are advised to read both their feedback and rubric to understand their mark.