This parody of Jay-Z's "Money Ain't a Thang" explores the wonderful world of developmental biology. Made for Human Biology 3A at Stanford University. Lyrics (shown below) by Tom McFadden, performance by Tom and Derrick Davis, cameo by Bob Siegel, and edited by Jake Wachtel.
Derrick:
In the dorsal or ventral, making proteins,
Top down - secreting out, regulatin’ genes.
Tom:
Here we go in the embryo - asymmetry.
From the egg sac, holler back regulatin' genes.
Jigga I don’t like it if it aint zinc finger
or homeodomain, yo, regulatin’ genes.
How you tell a cell it should be in the spleen?
Or your lung? Or your tongue? Yo, you regulate its genes.
Want to talk about development? Of a single cell into a gentleman?
Pay attention to your head when it knocks, because it grew there thanks to HOX.
So many controls on when a gene is active,
But I’ma just focus on transcription factors.
When the ventral signal inhibits cactus,
that's what the SOG I call a chain reaction.
Each cell’s got an identical genome,
but we know the phenomenon of devo…
Depends on whether them genes is expressed.
Don’t be getting depressed, though it’s getting complex.
Next thing is how a cell’s picking which GATs (stretches of nucleotides) get…
chosen, like Yogi in a pic-in-ic basket.
Proteins and DNA? Some interesting chemistry.
Because they’re getting’ jiggy with some different affinities.
And if they bind then we’re looking at the next phase:
Block or recruit the RNA polymerase?
Whether on or off either occasion,
a regulated gene leads to differentiation.
In the ant or posterior, switching on things.
Evo Devo, regulatin’ genes.
On that non-coding region up or downstream,
is a site where you might get to regulate a gene.
Jigga, head-to-tail patterning is a common theme,
from a fly to a guy, check it, regulatin’ genes.
Aint an issue in the tissue when we makin’ blood veins.
In the Hox fam, hot damn, regulatin’ genes.
Hey yo, talking bout development? Of a single cell into a gentleman?
Pay attention to your spine when it pops because it grew there thanks to HOX.
Contemplating Evo Devo when I got to thinkin’
how many years evolution been tinkerin?
Like 1,000,000,000. No one quite knows when Hox genes rolled up.
Showed up with their ability to regulate –
segmentation whether in a mouse or an invertebrate.
I heard ‘em say that gap genes is turning on the pair rule (genes),
Regulatin’ H – O – X?
Got to be careful!
The truth is for the mutant HOX, my homie got it.
Gotta be careful with the genes that homeotic.
Mutate them on or off then you in trouble. You get some strange phenotypes including
Double(Bi-) thorax, but the most whack is the gross fact
You can grow a leg where antennae shoulda grown at!
Unbelievable? Aint no embellishment.
Regulatin’ genes is crucial to development.
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