How can we translate the findings of this research into medically or biologically relevant information for humans? Are there similar genes that exist in humans, or can we use these methods to find such genes?
Yes! The reason we use Tetrahymena as the organism is because it contains many genetic similarities to humans, so the research we do on tetrahymena is useful to us. The Piwi domain is present in both humans and tetrahymena so it is very biologically relevant to study
It was necessary to reverse transcribe RNA to cDNA because RNA is incredibly unstable and it is easier to work with cDNA. Also we use DNA polymerase to amplify, and that would not work with RNA
I think more research would probably need to be done to investigate that, but I would assume that different mediums would damage the DNA in different places/ways.
curesymposium.org 
How can we translate the findings of this research into medically or biologically relevant information for humans? Are there similar genes that exist in humans, or can we use these methods to find such genes?
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Yes! The reason we use Tetrahymena as the organism is because it contains many genetic similarities to humans, so the research we do on tetrahymena is useful to us. The Piwi domain is present in both humans and tetrahymena so it is very biologically relevant to study
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Why was it necessary to reverse transcribe RNA to cDNA before PCR and gel electrophoresis if the experiments were already run to confirm the primer?
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It was necessary to reverse transcribe RNA to cDNA because RNA is incredibly unstable and it is easier to work with cDNA. Also we use DNA polymerase to amplify, and that would not work with RNA
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Do humans have a homolog of the Piwi2 protein?
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Yes! humans also have a piwi domain
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Is there a difference in how the DNA is damaged when using radiation compared to how you induced DNA damage with hydroxyurea?
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I think more research would probably need to be done to investigate that, but I would assume that different mediums would damage the DNA in different places/ways.
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