Gene Mapping with Molecular Markers

You will write a written report of PART A of the practical conducted in weeks 3-4: ‘Gene mapping in Bactrocera tryoni’. Your aim is to write up the experiment in the form of a brief scientific journal article, containing the sections: Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion and Supplementary Information. This is a written report, so all sections should be in sentence form (no dot points or lists). Like all journal articles, you should come up with an appropriate title for your report. Throughout the report you can use subheadings followed by paragraphs, and present key information such as your results in tables and figures. You will need to include relevant references from the scientific literature. Your report should be no more than 1500 words (excluding figures, tables, references and supplementary information). Report sections: Introduction: Briefly describe the background and put the experiment into context. Think about the study organism and why we are using genetic markers to understand the biology of Bactrocera tryoni. Include relevant references. Describe molecular markers and how their use has aided in genetic mapping. Consider the bigger picture- why is this experiment important? Finish this section by stating the aims. Materials and methods: Give a brief overview of the methods, starting with the details of the genetic cross performed. Include (briefly) all necessary information to repeat the molecular experiments in another laboratory. Methods should be recounted in sentence form, not as a list or protocol. Results: Use the data from your demonstrator group in your report where possible. If samples didn’t work you should obtain the result from another group, and discuss why some of your group’s results may not have worked. Summarise the key data (eg. processed results such as the linkage analysis) into a table, and describe it in the text. Your group’s gel photo, appropriately labelled and your summary of the banding pattern for each individual should be included in the Supplementary Information section (this is similar to an appendix). See Exercise 5: Analysis of results, questions 1-4 (page 11 of lab notes) for help with the type of things that should include the results section. Discussion: Interpret your results (refer to Exercise 5, questions 5-6 on page 11 of the lab notes for some ideas on where to start). Integrate your results with the available literature and discuss their biological significance. Do these results agree with previous work? Could you improve the methodology used? You might refer to gene mapping in another insect, or think about which modern techniques are now available that could complement this research. What would you do next- what future experiments could be done to increase our understanding of the genetics of B. tryoni? Finish with a brief conclusion to the report. Supplementary Information: Include here the ‘raw data’ from the experiment (see above Results section for suggestions).