BP Gene Study

Hey Everyone,

My name is Jeremy Giampaoli and I'm a junior in high school. I'm planning on applying to Stanford and realize that I need something to stand out on my application and was pondering the idea of an experiment on ball python genetics. I have access to a fairly high quality private company's laboratory (obviously not billions of dollars of equipment) but should have most of machines I'll be needing. This is just in the development stage and I had some questions to see if my dream could become a real experiment.

1) Has anyone done an in-depth experiment on ball python genetics before? Not just a normal dom, co-dom, recessive trait test, but identifying the chromosomes and gene changes between different morphs?

2) Can anyone with scientific experience tell me if it's possible to extract DNA from two different morphs of BP and be able to identify the discrepancies? Also, if identified, would injecting them into, lets say, a normal BP change the phenotype or genotype of the animal?

3) Would any breeder (or anyone for that matter) in the Southern California area (I'm in Torrance) potentially be willing to loan me a few ball pythons? If I follow through with this project, I would test out the experiment on my own normal BP as long as it is safe. I was thinking just a few simple morphs (dom, co-dom, and recessive) like spider, lesser, and albino or something of the like. If successful, then possibly moving on to two gene animals.

Thanks in advance for your input,

Jeremy Giampaoli

I'm envisioning $20 bananas and $15 Super orange dreams if you could do what you are thinking of.
"If" you could inject dna into normals and create morphs from the offspring, their value would be gone would it not?

OMG OMG OMG I have always wanted to do this.

I'm afraid you will need quite a FEW ball pythons, though, if you want to isolate the genes. The fact that they act like such perfect examples of co/dominant and recessives would hopefully make them easier to narrow down... but in truth, genetics are always messy. And the "genes" in question could easily be sets of genes.

I would pick just a few straightforward, common morphs---spider, mojave, pied, albino---something common enough that a big breeder could possibly supply a few unrelated animals of each for sequencing.

And I would contact LadyOhh. She's in SoCal, she's awesome, she's got a big collection, and she's science-y.

I know that a few people have considered doing something like this. I don't see any reason why it couldn't be done (cost and limited application are certainly factors that would deter most) Mapping the entire genome is a serious undertaking that not just anyone can do. Results will be slow for sure (at least at first) and you will need to have a large sample size of all morphs that you want to work with.

Yes it is possible to see a difference but it probably isn't as black and white as you would expect. To ID the exact differences you will need to have a huge sample of each morph and then you will have to find what is consistently different in a morph vs other morphs/normals Keep in mind that it took 13 years to do this in the human genome project (with world class scientists and a big government budget)

Personally unless this would be part of a project with a known company/university I would look for something else. Individual research at the level you are talking about is extremely difficult and chances are it will be hard to get people to take you seriously at your age. To be honest it probably won't do much towards getting you into Stanford anyway. (It's really too late at this point if you are already a junior)

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

I'm envisioning $20 bananas and $15 Super orange dreams if you could do what you are thinking of.
"If" you could inject dna into normals and create morphs from the offspring, their value would be gone would it not?

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Don't worry, that's strictly science fiction, the injecting DNA thing. There are probably people experimenting with that sort of thing on stem cells and embryos, but "gene therapy" is a long way from changing a normal into a morph. Don't worry.

What is possibly practical is genome sequencing. In principle it should be possible to do something like the (now basically debunked) dog breed identification test for mixed-breed dogs. So if you have a bunch of poss hets (and I do, ugh), then you can could potentially tell which are the $30 normals and which are the $500 het crazy gene females with just a saliva swab.

And I disagree about it not helping a student get into Stanford. It's true that the scope of such a project is much greater than the OP understands, and the project would therefore be unlikely to be anywhere near complete in the time allowed. But ball pythons are a good species to work with, because the genetics are so straightforward. And experience messing with the lab equipment in question would give an undergrad applicant a leg up over otherwise comparable competitors. Especially if you're applying to a bio sciences program.

(I work in the physical sciences, and man, we love students who already have lab and research experience.)

And I have talked to a guy who works in one of the Biodesign labs at ASU about this. Basically: sequencing genomes for individuals isn't anywhere near as cumbersome as it was even just a few years ago. That's the not same as saying it's trivial, or fast, or easy, or cheap. But you don't need an entire lab of dedicated staff working for years.

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Originally Posted by loonunit

And I disagree about it not helping a student get into Stanford. It's true that the scope of such a project is much greater than the OP understands, and the project would therefore be unlikely to be anywhere near complete in the time allowed. But ball pythons are a good species to work with, because the genetics are so straightforward. And experience messing with the lab equipment in question would give an undergrad applicant a leg up over otherwise comparable competitors. Especially if you're applying to a bio sciences program.

(I work in the physical sciences, and man, we love students who already have lab and research experience.)

And I have talked to a guy who works in one of the Biodesign labs at ASU about this. Basically: sequencing genomes for individuals isn't anywhere near as cumbersome as it was even just a few years ago. That's the not same as saying it's trivial, or fast, or easy, or cheap. But you don't need an entire lab of dedicated staff working for years.

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The problem is that the OP will need to apply no latter than 6-9 months from now. In that period of time there is very little chance of getting any worthwhile results.

Plus it is nearly impossible to translate things like this to college applications. You might because to work it into an essay and if you are really lucky be able to talk with someone on staff at the university... But otherwise there really isn't anywhere on a college application to put stuff like this. (I know this first hand as an engineering major in college who had college level engineering internships/projects in high school. I had more hands on experience than some undergraduate grads yet I couldn't put any of it on my applications)

Instead why don't you look at why a caramel kinks, a spider wobbles, and why some combos produce ding-dongs. That way you might be able to isolate that gene and treat the animal to produce worry free animals.

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Originally Posted by jermajestyg

Also, if identified, would injecting them into, lets say, a normal BP change the phenotype or genotype of the animal?

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Neither.

Good luck with the rest!

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Originally Posted by loonunit

Don't worry, that's strictly science fiction, the injecting DNA thing

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Injecting isn't the best term to describe it, but DNA splicing is most certainly real. Typically this kind of thing is done in the classroom with bacterium.