(12 pts) Imagine that you are part of an international medicalteam. You are investigating a strange virus that has broken out inthe US. You have samples of the virus from January when it wasfirst detected and samples taken from patients in May. The virususes a specific protein to attach to a receptor on lung cells andinfect the people. You notice the that the attachment protein inthe January samples has a different amino acid sequence than theattachment protein in the May samples. In the 20th position of theprimary structure the January sample has serine. In the May sampleserine has been replaced by alanine. Early in the outbreak doctorswere giving a medicine to people that seemed to decrease theduration of the disease. The same medicine is not working in May.The medicine blocks the attachment protein so it cannot adhere tothe lung cell.
(2pts) Propose a logical, hypothesis, supported by the evidenceprovided that states this virus will mutate if exposed to themedicine. Use a major biological theory to help explain youhypothesis. Is this an example of inductive or deductive reasoning?Explain
(4pts) Describe a controlled experiment to test your hypothesis.You must Include the number of subjects, and the type of statisticyou would use to compare the groups as well as:
i. Control and experimental variable.
ii. Independent and dependent variable
If the p value for a t-test between the control and experimentalgroup = 0.03 what would you conclude about the experiment.Explain.
(2pts) How could exposure to a medicine create a resistantvirus? Use a specific theory to support your ideas and describe astep by step process that could result in a resistant virus.
(2pts) Provide a logical, chemistry based explanation, thedescribes potential changes at the molecular level, for why thesubstitution of alanine for serine in the viral attachment proteincould change the effectiveness of the medicine.
(2 pts) Which level/s of protein structure does the substitutionof alanine for serine affect? Explain
