8B 1. Genome projects and making DNA fragments

Question 1

what is a genome

Answer 1

the entire set of DNA, including all the genes in an organism

Question 2

what has allowed us to sequence the genomes of a variety of organisms

Answer 2

improvements in technology

Question 3

gene sequencing methods only work on

Answer 3

fragments of DNA

Question 4

if you want to sequence an entire genome of an organism you need to

Answer 4

chop DNA into smaller pieces (fragments)

smaller pieces are sequenced then put back in order to give sequence of whole genome

Question 5

what is the proteome of an organism

Answer 5

all the proteins made by the organism

Question 6

sequencing the genome of simple organisms can help identify their

Answer 6

proteins

Question 7

why is it easy to determine proteome from DNA sequence of genome in simple organsims such as bacteria

Answer 7

don’t have much non-coding DNA

Question 8

how is determining the proteomes of simple organisms such as bacteria useful in medical research and development

Answer 8

can identify protein antigens on surface of disease causing bacteria and viruses
can help in development of vaccines to prevent disease

Question 9

its harder to translate the genome of

Answer 9

complex organisms

Question 10

why is it harder to translate genome of complex organisms

Answer 10

1. contain larger sections of non-coding DNA
2. complex regulatory genes which determine when genes that code for particular proteins should be switched on or switched off
3. more difficult to translate genome into proteome=hard to find bits that code for proteins among non coding and regulatory DNA

Question 11

in the past sequencing methods were

Answer 11

labour intensive
expensive
could only be done on small scale

Question 12

sequencing methods are now

Answer 12

often automated
more cost effective
can be done on large scale

Question 13

e.g. of recently developed sequencing technique

Answer 13

pyrosequencing

can sequence around 400 million bases in a 10 hour period

Question 14

as a result of newer faster sequencing methods scientists can now

Answer 14

sequence whole genomes much more quickly