Analyze the mutation
Wed, Oct 28, 2026 · Week 10 · Principles of Biomedical Technology (Principles of Biomedical Science)
Today's goal: Interpret your mutation model with a CER and evaluate the model's limitations.
This is a model of the work you should turn in today. Use it to check your own: match the structure and the level of detail, do not copy it. Your data and wording should be your own.
Parallel case, not your mutation: the best-known single-base change in a human gene, in the beta chain of hemoglobin.
Claim: One substitution at the sixth codon of the beta-globin gene changes the protein enough to cause a disease, because of where the change lands and how the amino acid's chemistry shifts.
Evidence: The codon GAG becomes GTG, one base swapped. GAG codes for glutamate, a charged amino acid; GTG codes for valine, a nonpolar one. The chain still has the same length and the same fold, but position 6 sits on the protein's surface, and the nonpolar patch makes deoxygenated hemoglobin molecules stick to each other in long fibers.
Reasoning: A missense change matters when the new amino acid has different chemistry and sits where the protein touches something else; this one meets both tests, so a single letter changes the shape of a red blood cell. A silent change at the same codon (GAA, still glutamate) would do nothing.
Limitation: A paper or kit model shows the codon and the amino acid change but not the surface position or the fiber-forming behavior, so the model can predict the type of change and only suggest its severity.
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: A claim-evidence-reasoning paragraph on a parallel case: one base substitution in the gene for a blood protein, traced through the codon change to the amino acid change and to what that does to the protein, with a stated limitation. It models the position-and-chemistry reasoning without answering today's own mutation prompt.
- Write one defensible claim.
- Choose specific evidence that supports the claim.
- Explain the scientific rule that connects the evidence to the claim.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: Submit your CER as one PDF to Schoology assignment for this lesson in Schoology by the end of class.
Turn in: CER arguing how the point mutation affects the resulting protein, using your sequence comparison from today's mutation runs as evidence and connecting the protein change to a possible diagnosis in the reasoning.
Go to Schoology to turn this in.
Submit one PDF. Schoology attaches your name to your upload; on the page itself, write your period and code. Name the file: FirstName LastName - Assignment Title - YYYY-MM-DD.pdf.
Open Schoology PDF upload helpIf you cannot get in, see Mr. Mendoza. Do not skip the work.
Claim ceiling: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about analyze the mutation. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
One exam-style question that uses exactly what you practiced today. Try it before you reveal the answer, then read why each choice is right or wrong.
Tap an answer to see the full explanation. Nothing is recorded or graded.
It builds this reusable test skill: Identifying the variables that determine a mutation's severity.
- Name the concept or data pattern being tested.
- Cross out choices that violate that rule or the evidence.
- Justify the best remaining choice before checking the answer.