Introduction: Pseudogenes are vestigial genes.

That is, they were once functional in an

ancestral species, but since they were no longer needed they accumulated mutations until
they became non-functional. In many cases they evolve to the point where a protein can
no longer be produced at all. Pseudogenes represent molecular evidence for evolution. As
fossils are the remains of extinct organisms, pseudogenes are the remains of extinct
genes.

All mammals, other than primates and guinea pigs can produce their own vitamin C. The
GULO gene codes for an enzyme, L-gulonolactone oxidase, involved in vitamin C
synthesis. The GULO gene is present in mice and other mammals. We will see if
primates, such as humans and chimps have the GULO gene and if this gene is able to
produce a functional protein, the GULO enzyme.

Procedure: The U. S. Government maintains a set of databases called GenBank, which

contains nucleotide and amino acid sequences for those genes and proteins whose
sequences have been determined. For your research we will use a computer program
called BLAST. BLAST is able to search the GenBank databases. If you input a nucleotide
or amino acid sequence into BLAST, it will search for any known genes or proteins that
are similar to the one that you entered. You will use BLAST to determine if the genomes
of cows, pigs, humans and chimps contain functional GULO genes, or if they contain
vestigial GULO pseudogenes, which do not result in production of the GULO enzyme.

PART I. Is the GULO gene present in various mammals?

1. Go to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
2. From the menu at the top of the page, select BLAST.
3. From the BLAST menu, select nucleotide BLAST. It is under Basic BLAST.
4. Copy the mouse GULO sequence (link found in school loop locker) into the box
under Enter Query Sequence.
5. Scroll down until you see Database.
6. Check the Others box. Change the database setting in the box to nucleotide
collection.
7. In the Organism window, type in cow. When you see cow appear in the box,
select it.
8. Scroll to the bottom and find the BLAST button. Above the BLAST button,
you will see the optimize for box. Select optimize for somewhat similar
sequences (BLASTn)
9. Scroll back down and hit the BLAST button.
10. When BLAST is done with its search, you can scroll down and see a colorized
diagram indicating the degree of similarity of the BLAST hits to your mouse
GULO nucleotide sequence. Red and pink/purple mean a good match, while
green, blue and black indicate a poor match. If the colored line spans the entire
length of the window, then the hit sequence matches the inquiry sequence along
its entire length. We want to see a high quality match along a majority of the
inquiry sequence.
 11. Below the colorized diagram is a hit list of your results. This shows the quality
of matching as an E-value. An E-value is the chance that the matchup may be due
to a random matching of a sequence of bases. The smaller the E-value, the more
confidence you can have in your matching. A good match should have a low
Evalue (red or pink line) and an alignment along a large segment of the sequence.
12. Now start again and do BLAST searches for pig (Sus scrufa), dog (Canis
familiaris), human (Homo sapiens) and chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) GULO
genes. Create a chart to record the results of the presence or absence of the GULO
gene, the query cover (% of query sequence that overlaps with subject sequence),
the max. identity percentage score (% similarities between query and subject
sequence over length of coverage area), and the e-value for each organism.

PART II. Does the human GULO gene produce a functional protein?
We will now use protein BLAST to search for GULO proteins in cows, pigs, humans and
chimpanzees.

1. Go to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
2. Select BLAST from the menu at the top of the page.
3. From the BLAST menu, select protein BLAST. It is under Basic BLAST.
4. Copy the mouse GULO PROTEIN sequence (in school loop locker) into the box
under Enter Query Sequence.
5. Scroll down until you see Organism.
6. In the Organism window, type in cow. When you see cow appear in the box,
select it.
7. Scroll to the bottom and select the BLAST button.
8. When BLAST is done with its search, you can scroll down and see a chart of your
results. Note your result in the chart below.
9. Now start again and do BLAST searches for pig (Sus scrufa), human (Homo
sapiens) and chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) GULO genes.
10. Look for proteins with the same name (, L-gulonolactone oxidase). If the GULO
protein is not present, other, more distantly related proteins may come up. They
will have a much lower score and a higher E-value. Note that the E-value
represents the chance that the result is due a random matching of some amino acid
sequences from both proteins. An E-value of 0 means a statistically perfect match.
A good E-value should be much lower than e-4 .
11. Create a chart to record the results of the presence or absence of the GULO gene,
the query cover (% of query sequence that overlaps with subject sequence), the
max. identity percentage score (% similarities between query and subject
sequence over length of coverage area), and the e-value for each organism.
Critical Thinking Questions:
1. Why do you think that primates (monkeys, apes, and humans) have lost the ability
to produce vitamin C? (Hint: think about the diet of early primates)
2. Explain why the GULO gene in humans may be considered vestigial.
3. What can you infer about the GULO BLAST results between humans and
chimps?
4. Your new pet food company is designing healthy foods for dogs, pigs, cows,
mice, and chimpanzees. Based on your results, to which types of feed will you
suggest the manufacturer add supplemental vitamin C? Justify your reasoning
with your results.
Part III: Investigate your Own Gene of Interest
Now that the first part of the investigation is complete, the next step is to learn how
to find and BLAST your own genes of interest. To locate a gene, go to the Entrez Gene
website (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene) and search for a gene. Once you have
found the gene on the site, copy the gene sequence and input it into a BLAST query.
Some examples of genes we have talked about during AP Bio may be found below, but
the gene you choose does not have to be part of this list:

ATP synthase Oct4 NAD+ reductase estrogen

DNA polymerase Sox2 hemoglobin testosterone
primase Bicoid myoglobin insulin
DNA helicase Caudal amylase glucagon
Telomerase Sonic Hedgehog pepsin myosin
p53 Tyrosine kinase trypsin actin
cyclins

Procedures: Follow the instructions below to BLAST your own gene of interest. You do
not have to use human actin this is just provided as an example.

1. On the Entrez Gene website search the term human actin.

2. Click on the first link that appears and scroll down to NCBI Reference
Sequences.
3. Click on the first file name NM 001100.3 under mRNA and Proteins.
4. Click on FASTA just below the gene title.
5. The nucleotide sequence displayed is that of the actin gene in humans.
6. Copy the gene sequence and go to the BLAST homepage
(http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi0).
7. Click on nucleotide blast under the Basic BLAST menu.
8. Paste the sequence into the box where it says Enter Query Sequence.
9. Give the query a title in the box provided if you plan on saving it for later.
10. Under "Choose Search Set" select the type or genome you want to search (human
genome, mouse genome, or all genomes available).
11. Under Program Selection choose whether or not you want highly similar
sequences or somewhat similar sequences. Choosing somewhat similar sequences will
provide you with more results.
12. Click BLAST.

By the end of procedure III, you should have a completed chart comparing the presence
or absence of your gene of interest with humans and 4 other species you can either
choose the other species based on the first results that come up, or you can specifically
align the sequence with other species like you did in Part I of the investigation. (Dont
have to be the same species as in Part I. You can choose any you are curious about)

In your chart, you should also include the percent similarity of the sequence to the human
sequence.

From your chart of percent similarity of the gene you chose comparing humans to 4 other
species, construct a cladogram predicting the species relatedness based alone on the
results of the gene of interest researched.

Due PER PERSON

- Completed chart for Part I
- Completed chart for Part II
- Critical Thinking Questions (Part I and II)
- Completed chart for Part III
- Cladogram based on Part III