Sorry I haven't been updating recently!

I've been bogged down with end-of-the-semester-itis + I have to study for finals.

In studying for genetics I was faced with this question, that I thought was amusing:


6. The Minister of Finance, Bill English, is seeking to clone the gene for a novel
protein called diptin, which has recently been discovered as a major component
of the eggs of a new species of butterfl y, Taxpayer subsidii, found fl ying wild in
his historic family residence in the wilds of Southland. The diptin protein causes
those who consume it to lose all interest in investing the property market and to
save all their spare cash in long-term deposits. Mr English wishes to express large
quantities of the protein in transgenic plants so that Dr Bollard can put it in the
water supplies of key suburbs in the wealthy regions of Auckland and Wellington.
You are told that diptin protein binds tightly to another protein called perkin,
which has been purifi ed from fi lters in the air conditioning units of the beehive. A
good way to clone the diptin gene would be to:
1. Construct a genomic library from Taxpayer subsidii and screen the library
by colony hybridization using an oligonucleotide designed from the known
protein sequence of perkin.
2. Construct a cDNA library from mRNA isolated from eggs of Taxpayer
subsidii, and screen the library by colony hybridization using the gene for
perkin as a probe.
3. Purify the diptin protein using a perkin column, sequence the protein and
design an oligonucleotide probe, and use the probe in a Southern blot
against genomic DNA isolated from Taxpayer subsidii
4. Construct a cDNA expression library from mRNA isolated from eggs of
Taxpayer subsidii, and screen it using antibodies prepared against perkin.
5. Purify the diptin protein using a perkin column, inject the purifi ed protein
into rabbits to produce antibodies, and use these to screen a cDNA
expression library made from mRNA isolated from eggs of Taxpayer
subsidii.

..just goes to show that professors can, and will, in fact make questions out of anything haha