BIO-6130 | Advanced Biotechnology_Lab 2
Description
This virtual lab extends Lecture 2 into a self-paced, interactive simulation of DNA replication, transcription, and post-transcriptional processing, paired with the lecture's laboratory demonstration on nucleic acid extraction and quantification. Rather than reading about the replisome, promoters, or spliceosome, students actively assemble replication forks, build leading and lagging strands, construct RNA polymerase holoenzymes and pre-initiation complexes, walk through 5′ capping and 3′ polyadenylation step by step, assemble the spliceosome to remove an intron, and run a virtual spectrophotometer to interpret A260/A280 purity readings — closing with a bank of topic-based quizzes and a completion certificate.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this virtual lab, students will be able to outline the enzymatic machinery of semi-conservative, bidirectional DNA replication — including the roles of helicase, SSBs, primase, DNA polymerases, and ligase — and explain the layered fidelity mechanisms (base selection, proofreading, mismatch repair) that safeguard replication accuracy; describe the stages of prokaryotic transcription (sigma factor-directed promoter recognition, initiation, elongation, Rho-dependent and Rho-independent termination) and eukaryotic transcription (RNA Polymerase I/II/III specificity, general transcription factor-mediated pre-initiation complex assembly, and enhancer-promoter looping); analyze the post-transcriptional modifications of eukaryotic pre-mRNA, including 5′ capping, 3′ polyadenylation, spliceosome-mediated splicing, and the four modes of alternative splicing that expand proteomic diversity; and apply nucleic acid extraction and spectrophotometric quantification techniques, correctly interpreting A260/A280 ratios to assess sample purity.