The novel A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness is fabulous, but the biology is quite off in parts. In fact, the book perpetuates some common misconceptions about evolution. The book describes how witch characteristics, such as the ability to do magic, are encoded in their DNA. When witches needed to be less witch-like over time to avoid persecution, that need “forced mutations… that pushed the magic aside.” (Hmm?) Also, junk/non-coding DNA is described as “waiting to be used in the next evolutionary change. We just don’t know what its purpose is — yet.” (Huh?) In what ways does the author get biological—especially evolutionary—concepts wrong? Describe TWO things about the quotes from this book that are not biologically accurate and why.  (Note: Magic being supernatural is not one of them. Let’s allow for the supernatural in this question!)  (3-6 sentences total)

The dialysis bag used in our experiment was permeable to ____________.

What are the three primary forms of horizontal gene transfer into bacteria in nature?  Select up to three of the possibilities given (points gained for each correct answer) and no more than three (points lost for incorrect answers).

If a population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium with respect to a given allele, it is predicted that the genotype frequencies in that population will…

One type of pseudoscience (fake science) is called cryptozoology: The study of rare animals of disputed existence, often blending with mythology. Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster are classic examples of cryptids. Cryptozoology walks the line between science and non-science because sometimes rare animals are found, such as the giant squid, and arguably legitimate studies can be done in search of them, but often methods and logic fall outside scientific reason. Using a cryptid of your choice (the above options are fine), think of a legitimate study that seeks to find evidence of the animal’s existence. Your hypothesis is that X animal exists. Provide the name of the animal under investigation and describe what data you would collect to test the hypothesis. Then provide the prediction you’d expect if your data supports the hypothesis. Be specific, and it’s just fine to make wild speculations about the cryptid under investigation! (2-5 sentences)

Short Tandem Repeat (STR) loci, are assumed to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in large human populations. Why is this a generally reasonable assumption? (select all that apply)

The diagram below illustrates the gene editing procedure, based on the CRISPR-Cas9 system in bacteria.  Where you see “N”s, that means DNA bases (A, C, G or T) that are not specified precisely here).    Match the identity of the components (A, B and C) with list of possibilities given.  Not all possibilities will be used! E1 S26 CRISPR image.pdf

Briefly explain and/or show your calculations for the expected HW equilibrium genotype frequencies in the previous question.

When done, submit your answers. Before leaving the classroom, sign out with an instructor or TA and turn in any scratch paper.

Nature of Science (16 points)