摘要
This technical note aims to show how any instructor teaching entomology can use the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) and the “one click” mode of Phylogeny.fr to teach undergraduate students about insect DNA similarity in a simple way. Teaching an entomology course requires the use of numerous tools to help students grasp different concepts. Knowing that there are more than one million described species of insects means that teaching students about insect identification and taxonomy can be challenging. However, here we present two easy exercises that could be used as classroom or </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">take-home assignments to demonstrate various levels of DNA similarity</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> among different insect taxa. Such exercises unlock students’ creativity and break the barrier of fear of bioinformatics. Moreover, they open up new ways for them to understand insect taxonomy through molecular biology and allow them to develop new skills that contribute to strengthening their scientific performance in the future, especially when they do research as graduate students. </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Finally, this note is an example of how to integrate simple bioinformatics </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">tools into the teaching of entomology.
This technical note aims to show how any instructor teaching entomology can use the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) and the “one click” mode of Phylogeny.fr to teach undergraduate students about insect DNA similarity in a simple way. Teaching an entomology course requires the use of numerous tools to help students grasp different concepts. Knowing that there are more than one million described species of insects means that teaching students about insect identification and taxonomy can be challenging. However, here we present two easy exercises that could be used as classroom or </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">take-home assignments to demonstrate various levels of DNA similarity</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> among different insect taxa. Such exercises unlock students’ creativity and break the barrier of fear of bioinformatics. Moreover, they open up new ways for them to understand insect taxonomy through molecular biology and allow them to develop new skills that contribute to strengthening their scientific performance in the future, especially when they do research as graduate students. </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Finally, this note is an example of how to integrate simple bioinformatics </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">tools into the teaching of entomology.
作者
Mohammad Ali Al-Deeb
Mohammad Ali Al-Deeb(Biology Department, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, UAE)
