1 - Diversity of Genes and Genomes Flashcards
What did Gregor Mendel define?
The basic rules of inheritance. Traits are determined by discrete units that are passed from one generation to the next.
Who found that genes are made of DNA?
Oswald Avery
Colin MacLeod
Maclyn McCarty
What is the ENCODE project?
A list of functional elements in the human genome, including elements that act at the protein and RNA levels, and regulatory elements that control cells and circumstances in which a gene is active
Is the genome of an individual stable?
No. There is copy number variation (CNV) between and within individuals. Also cancer.
What are the three domains of life?
Bacteria
Archaea
Eukaryota
Who are Fred Sanger and Carl Woese?
Fred Sanger: Protein sequencing (eg. insulin)
Carl Woese: RNA cataloguing (eg. small RNAs and viral fragments with the Sanger method). Started analyzing RNA first because there’s lots of RNA available and these methods required lots of pure starting material.
What are the five tools of the ‘omics’ revolution?
- Genomics
- Transcriptomics
- Metagenomics
- Proteomics
- Metabolomics
These technologies all complement each other
What is genomics?
- Sequencing genomes of cultured microorganisms, animal/plant tissue etc.
- Re-sequencing is where you determine the sequence of a genome for the purpose of comparing it to a reference genome (eg. using BLAST)
What is transcriptomics?
- Traditional approach to sequencing (sequencing ESTs, expressed sequence tags - cDNAs derived from mRNAs)
- Has evolved into RNA sequencing technology where whole transcriptome shotgun sequencing can be used to provide a comprehensive pciture of the RNA present in a sample (has begun to replace microarray)
What is metagenomics?
- Culture-independent sequencing
- DNA isolated from a community of organisms, shotgun sequenced and assembled
- Goal is to gain insight into the composition of the microbial community
- Community can be absolutely anything: soil, water, air, gut contents etc.
What is proteomics?
Large scale experimental protein analysis in complex mixtures.
- Large scale studies combine fragmentation of proteins, separation of proteins by liquid chromatography and detection be tandem mass spectrometry
- THIS requires a reference genome with predicted proteins, which are digested in silico. Peptide fragments from the biological sample are compared to the in silico predictions, if there is a match, then protein is present.
What is metabolomics?
The study of small-molecule metabolite profiles using gas chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) etc.
- For sample separation, and mass spectrometry for detection
- Can provide insight into the physiology of the cell at the time the sample was taken.
