31. Functional Genomics

Question 1

what is the purpose of a knock out gene?

Answer 1

to mutate or delete a gene in an organism to find out what effect the mutation has.

Question 2

what are two methods used to knock out genes?

Answer 2

techniques simlar to transformation of E. Coli with plasmid vectors

RNA interference

Question 3

what does RT-PCR stand for?

Answer 3

reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction

Question 4

how does RT-PCR monitor gene expression

Answer 4

uses the enzyme ‘reverse transcriptae’ with PCR and gel electrophoresis.

1. reverse transcriptae enyme added 3’ to 5’ to synthesise cDNA
2. removal of mRNA
3. amplify gene of interest with a specific primer

Question 5

what are DNA micrarrays

Answer 5

allow expression of many genes to be monitored simultaneously.

eg comparing cancer cells with normal cells (marked with fluorescent dye), can see which genes are expressed only in cancer cells and not normal

Question 6

what is the 4 step process to make a microarray?

Answer 6

1. isolate the mRNA
2. make labelled cDNA (complementary DNA)
3. hybridise to DNA microarray
4. scan to determine which genes are ex[ressed

Question 7

what is transcriptomics?

Answer 7

the study expression of whole genome sets at a particular time and in a particular cell type or environment

Question 8

what is the three step process for transcriptiomics?

Answer 8

1. mRNA is converted to cDNA
2. cDNA is sequenced using high throughput sequencing technologies
3. can compare different gene expressions eg cancer and normal

Question 9

what is a proteome?

Answer 9

the entire set of proteins expressed in a given type of cell or organism

Question 10

what are metabolites?

Answer 10

horomones, signalling molecules, amino acids, sugars, lipids)

Question 11

define metabomics

Answer 11

the complete set of metabolites that have been made by the proteome in a cell