Wikipedia:USEP/Courses/JHU MolBio Ogg FA13/Group 81A

Group 81A
This is a group page for the Johns Hopkins Molecular Biology course. This group will be working on the article Karyogamy.

Use the talk page here to collaborate as a group, when learning to use and navigate Wikipedia, assessing articles, or for any other topic.

Use this page (not the talk page) for article assessments; rationale for selecting an article; etc (as specified in the milestone summary chart.

Please create a new section here for each of those assignments.

Extrachromosomal DNA
This page has referred to some good places to start, although the text is a bit choppy and relies on parenthetical statements instead of being written more clearly. There is some specific information that needs a citation: for example, the fact that cancer cells are known to acquire extrachromosomal DNA. The article needs subsections to confer organization and flow. Images could be added.

Here are some articles that could be used to expand the article:

Extrachromosomal MicroDNAs and Chromosomal Microdeletions in Normal Tissues

Extrachromosomal circular DNA derived from tandemly repeated genomic sequences in plants

Polysomy
This article is a stub just getting started. It needs to be broken down into sections. For example, an explanation of what it is, how it occurs, what the effects are on the phenotype of the organism, and some examples other than Down's syndrome.

Lupus is linked to polysomy

Chromosome 17 has polysomy in some breast cancer

Karyogamy
Not much is mentioned on the talk page, except which projects it belongs to. It appears to be a high priority for the Molecular and Cellular Biology group. There are no citations so far. Other specific terms are used but not explained, however, there are links for people to look up more about them. There needs to be a more logical flow and subsections.

Citations:

When yeast cells meet, karyogamy!

Proper Microtubule Structure Is Vital for Timely Progression through Meiosis in Fission Yeast

Viral transformation
This article has a better outline than some of the other stubs so far. Its current text implicitly suggest logical subsections to expand upon. I would move the transformation section to the beginning, since the term transformation is not explained up front. The talk page doesn't tell us much except that it also belongs to Molecular and Cellular Biology project and is of high importance.

Citations:

The DNA damage response in viral-induced cellular transformation

Creation of a cardiotropic adeno-associated virus: the story of viral directed evolution

Restriction Site
This article is a stub that has only some very basic information. It does have several citations, but they only point back to two different sources. The talk page suggests changing a link to a different wiki article and even merging the whole topic with an existing one on restriction enzymes.

Here's a review article on restriction enzymes

And another one specifically on EcoRI.

Neutral Mutation
This article is a very basic stub with no references at all and not much on the talk page.

Here's one reference for the statistics behind neutral mutations.

And a second about patterns of DNA polymorphism.

Article selection rationale
After comparing our interests and reviewing the article choices, we have selected Karyogamy. Obviously, the article is a stub so there is a great opportunity to shape and expand the article. It does not currently have anyone working on its talk page so we would be able to proceed at the pace of this course without slowing down any more experienced editors that might want to improve it. Sarah has an interest in fungi but not very much in-depth knowledge under the scope of this article, so it will be a good opportunity to learn more and stay interested in the project as we proceed. Don is interested in the cytoskeleton and its role in both normal operations as well as disease processes, including fascinating neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. We both found a review article that could serve as a good starting point to do more research.

Unit 8 Progress Report

 * We sourced some new articles and books, and spent a lot of time reading.
 * Expanded a few new sections, including citations as we went along.
 * Found a great illustration but haven't found the right spot to incorporate it yet.

Unit 10 Progress Report

 * Explained role of karyogamy in sexual reproduction
 * Expanded section on pronuclear migration
 * Expanded comparison to mammalian fertilization
 * Added image to illustrate role of karyogamy in fungi life cycle
 * Started section and research on somatic cell karyogamy in fungi

Unit 12 Progress Report

 * Redid lead in response to reviewers' comments and suggestions to simplify
 * Added 2 new images providing overview of cell and nuclear fusion
 * Reorganized with overview section and expanded remaining sections on role of karyogamy in sexual reproduction, cellular mechanisms, role in somatic diploids, and comparison to mammalian fertilization

Unit 14 Progress Report

 * Extended section on somatic diploids and added citation regarding Candida albicans
 * Reorganized and edited for style beginning of article
 * Added "See Also" section
 * Minor edits and addition links
 * Added missing citations
 * Overall, there was pretty much nothing when we started. Sarah has to take most of the credit because she had far more knowledge of fungi and did the heavy lifting. Don (authoring this bullet) showed off his limited graphics skills with a primitive illustration and contributed some organization and a couple of paragraphs. We got very good feedback, especially from Klortho. I believe we responded adequately to the suggestions. We admittedly struggled trying to find a balance between making the subject approachable while providing sufficient depth.