Principles of DNA Sequencing Technologies and CRISPR/Cas9 in Gene Editing

• Exams are open book exams. You can use revision notes and materials to help answer the questions. We will be testing your understanding of the module content, not your ability to Google, copy and paste. Although this is an open book exam and you will be free to look things up, you must write entirely in your own words.
• All submitted exam papers will be passed through word matching software (Turnitin) to detect potential plagiarism and collusion. Draft dropboxes will not be available.
• We encourage you to show your understanding by including annotated, hand-drawn diagrams (adding labels and further details) where necessary. You may draw these on paper and then photograph them and insert as images into your Word document. You must not copy and paste any images and diagrams from lecture slides, textbooks or online sources into your exam answers.
• References can be used but need to be cited and formatted correctly; they do not contribute to any final word count limit.
• The word limit for each essay question is 1000 words, unless otherwise stated. This will be strictly applied and words beyond 1000 will not be read or graded. Your answers need to be focused and address the question posed.
• When you have finished the Exam, save your completed Exam paper as a Word document, and upload that to the appropriate dropbox folder (Online exam) e.g. Q1, Q2 etc.
• You must upload your completed Exam paper within 24-hours of the time this paper is released. Late submissions will receive a grade of zero.
• If you experience a technical issue, please contact [email protected], copying in your module leader for information between 9:00 and 17:00 (Monday to Friday).
• If you are unable to start your exam, please inform your course leader and submit a Notification of Extenuating Circumstances (NEC) as soon as possible.

Notes:

• Question from Section A carries 50% of marks. The question from Section A is an essay type one and answer should not exceed 1,000 words.
• Section B carries 50% of marks. Each answer should not exceed 200 words.

Section A – Answer ONE question from this section

Question from Section A carries 50% of marks. The question from Section A is an essay type one and answer should not exceed 1,000 words.

1 “Reversible terminator (IlluminaTM) next-generation sequencing utilizes a fundamentally different approach to the classic Sanger chain-termination method and enables researchers to address complex genomic questions.“

Discuss this statement in relation to the principles of the two DNA sequencing technologies.

2.Critically evaluate the CRISPR/Cas9 technology as a tool for gene editing and the advantages of this approach in gene therapy over more established strategies.

Section B – Answer ALL questions from this section

Section B carries 50% of marks. Each answer should not exceed 200 words.

1.Chromatin immunoprecipitation, for H3K4me3 and H3K27me3, was followed by DNA sequencing analysis. The map below illustrates data for 3 genes. Arrows indicate direction of transcription. Identify and discuss which genes are transcriptionally activated.

2.Using microRNA target prediction software, identify two potential microRNA-124 gene targets, and design an experiment to investigate whether these genes are direct targets of microRNA-124.

3.The map below was generated following data analysis of bisulfite treatment followed by DNA sequencing. Arrows indicate direction of transcription. Identify and discuss which genes are transcriptionally repressed.