Name: REYNALYN M.

ABAO Subject: GS11- BIOCHEMISTRY

Course: MAED IN TEACHING SCIENCE Date: MARCH 21, 2023

Lactase Persistence in Humans

Part I

1. Do you see patterns in the geographic distribution of the black and white dots? Describe the pattern

qualitatively.

Answer: Northern Europe, East Africa and Middle East 2 seem to have the most lactose tolerant population
while Southern Europe, Middle East 1 and West Africa have the most lactose intolerant.

2. How would you quantify these patterns?

Answer: Northern Europe: 8/10

Southern Europe: 3/10

West Africa: 1/10

Middle East 1: 2/10

Middle East 2: 6/10

East Africa: 7/10

East Asia: 0/10

3. Count the black and white dots for each circled region and calculate the percentage of dairy tolerant people in
each region. Plot your findings in the graph below:

4. What does this data mean in terms of likelihood for a person from a particular geographic area to be dairy

tolerant?

Answer: This means you are 80-60% chance to be lactose tolerant if you are from Northern Europe, East Africa
and Middle East 2. In contrast you are 0-30% chance of being lactose tolerant if you are from Southern Europe,
West Africa, Middle East 1 and East Asia.
Part II

1. What is the difference between a protein and an enzyme? Search the internet if you need more clarification
and write down a definition of each term.
Answer: Proteins are one of the major bio-macromolecules which are structurally and functionally a part
of the human body. While an enzyme is a specific type of protein that performs a very specific function; as
biological catalysts which increase the rate of biochemical reactions.

2. What is a monosaccharide and what is a disaccharide? Which of these three sugars are mono or
disaccharide? Look this up on the internet and label the figure above (Figure 2) with the corresponding
terms
Answer: In regards to figure 2- Lactose is a disaccharide because it is 2 sugars bonded together. Glucose
and Galactose are monosaccarides because they cannot be broken down into a simpler sugar.

3. How can taking Lactaid help someone who is lactose intolerant to digest lactose?
Answer: Lactaid can help someone who is lactose intolerant because it has the enzyme lactase that their
body no longer produces. Lactase will break down lactose into simpler sugars that the body can then digest.

4. Why would a test for tolerance to lactose measure the levels of blood glucose and not lactose?
Answer: You would measure blood glucose and not lactose because lactose is too big of a molecule and
cannot be transferred to the blood where glucose can. Glucose is in lactose, so if a person is lactose tolerant
they will be able to break down the lactose into glucose and transferred into the blood therefore blood
glucose levels will rise.

5. Would you expect higher or lower glucose levels for dairy tolerant individuals after consuming milk? Why?
Draw your predictions for a lactose tolerant and lactose intolerant person into the graph below and explain
why.
Answer:
6. Plot the results from the five individuals in the graph below. Make sure to include a legend for your graph.
The physician assistant has already plotted one individual’s data.

7. Can you divide the group of individuals into two groups based on this data? If so, explain according to which
observation you would group individuals and who would belong into each group:
Answer:
A. Xiao-Ma and Sanjeet
B. Bjorn, Chris, Esiankiki and Linda

8. According to this data and your grouping, who of the groups are probably lactase persistent individuals?
Answer: The group of individuals can be divided into two groups based on the data of their blood
glucose after drinking milk. Xiao-Ma and Sanjeet can be categorized as lactose intolerant because the sugar
levels stayed the same even after drinking milk which means that they were not able to absorb the sugar
from the milk. On the other hand, Bjorn, Chris, Esiankiki and Linda can be said to be lactose tolerant because
their sugar level increased after drinking milk which means that they are able to absorb the milk, thereby
increasing blood sugar levels.

9. Does the data from the blood glucose measurement match what you had heard from the individuals during
their conversation on being able to eat ice-cream?
Answer: Yes, the data support the conversation from the individuals. Taking lactaid helps them because
the ones who are lactose intolerant have a constant/stable blood glucose level.

10. How do you think the graph would look like if Sanjeet had taken the test as a baby?
Answer: The graph would like similar. The lactose intolerance in Sanjeet helps him to maintain the
constant levels of glucose in his blood. Therefore, his sugar levels will remain constant since he consumes
lactase, which is an enzyme responsible for the breakdown of lactose. Thus, there would not be a major
change in the graph, and would look similar.
11. A person taking this test is usually asked to fast prior to taking the test. Why do you think that is?
Answer: People are asked to fast before taking the test to make sure that the results will be accurate.
Fasting is an act where a person stops eating for a period of time. Mostly, patients who will take a test are
asked to fast because the nutrients from the food can impact the results, especially in blood tests.
 Part III
1. In which ways can the individual steps of this process be regulated to lead to higher or lower expression of a
particular protein? Formulate hypotheses using terms such as: RNA, protein, stability, splicing, transport,
translation, and efficiency.
Answer: Eukaryotic gene expression can be controlled through many points and pathways, such as
transcriptional control, transcriptional, and post-transcriptional events.

The steps involved in the regulation of higher or lower expression of genes can be hypothesized as:

The pre transcriptional control refers to the accessibility of the chromatin to participate in the
transcription process. Supercoiling and methylation affect the pre-transcriptional control. The sequence of
the DNA does not affect it, hence referred to as epigenetic regulation.
The transcriptional control refers to the frequency at which the process is initiated, the presence of
transcription factors, and the efficiency of the promotors.
The post-transcriptional events involved several steps, which occur after the complete synthesis of
transcripts. Maturation control, transport control, splicing, translational, and stability control are some of
the steps of post-transcriptional control.
Thus, the hypotheses on transcriptional events can be explained using translation, efficiency, and stability.

2. How could SNPs contribute to gene regulation? Formulate hypotheses.

Answer: SNPs stands for single nucleotide polymorphism. This is the most common type of genetic variation
in people. In this type of variation a single nucleotide of DNA is changed. When SNPs occur within a gene or
in a regulatory region near a gene, they may play a more direct role in disease by affecting the gene’s
function.

3. Looking at the diagram of transcription in eukaryotes and using the information provided, how could the
expression of lactase RNA be turned on and off by transcription factors, activators and repressors?
Answer: The lac operon of E. coli contains genes involved in lactose metabolism. It's expressed only when
lactose is present and glucose is absent.

4. Would the relative position where a transcription factor or an activator/repressor binds DNA be the same
across different individuals? Explain why or why not.
Answer: So if you have a DNA molecule here, this transcription factor will bind at a specific point. This is the
same in different individuals of a population because they possess the same transcription factors and other
repressor proteins.

5. How does Oct1 recognize the position on the DNA molecule where it should bind?
Answer: OCT1 is a protein that hepatic which serves as a uptake transporter which is on the blood side of
hepatocytes whose primary function is disposition of cationic drugs. OCT1 recognize the position on the DNA
molecule by recognizing the specific sequence of bases as it has the binding motif.
6. Figure 7 is an illustration of another DNA binding protein. How can the protein recognize specific DNA
sequences? Do the bases of the DNA form specific interactions with the protein? Describe how.
Answer: Proteins that recognize a specific nucleotide sequence do so because the surface of the protein fits
tightly against the surface features of the DNA double helix in that region
-these surfaces features will vary depending on the nucleotide sequence, different DNA-binding proteins will
recognize different nucleotide sequences
-protein inserts into the major groove of the DNA double helix and makes a series of intimate, noncovalent
molecular contacts with the nucleotide pairs within the groove.

7. How could differences between individuals such as SNPs lead to the persistent expression of lactase in some
of your friends but not others?

Answer: Lactase persistence is the continued activity of the enzyme lactase in adulthood, only function of
this enzyme is the digestion of lactose in milk, in most mammal species, the activity of the enzyme is
dramatically.

8.How could a SNP in the -13910 region lead to persistent lactase expression? Formulate a hypothesis and
discuss with your team.

Answer: The −13910*T SNP might function to prevent binding of the repressor to the region or prevent
epigenetic modification thereby allowing for persistent gene expression.

9. Looking at the data above, can you correlate a genetic difference between the individuals with tolerance or
intolerance to lactose?
Answer: Lactose intolerance in adulthood is caused by gradually decreasing activity (expression) of the LCT
gene after infancy, which occurs in most humans. LCT gene expression is controlled by a DNA sequence
called the regulatory element, which is located within a nearby gene called MCM6.

10. Does your finding support or disprove the hypothesis that the SNP at 13910bp from LCT is correlated with
lactase persistence?
Answer: The precise mechanism by which the −13910*T SNP functions to mediate persistent expression of
the human lactase gene remains to be determined. Potential mechanisms might involve a transcriptional
repressor that binds to the −14 kb DNA region ancestral sequence or epigenetic modification of the region
upon maturation that functions to mediate a decline in lactase gene expression. The −13910*T SNP might
function to prevent binding of the repressor to the region or prevent epigenetic modification thereby
allowing for persistent gene expression.