B5.1 Flashcards
What is a gamete?
It’s a mature haploid male or female Germ cell which is able to unite with another of the opposite sex in sexual reproduction to form a zygote
What is a chromosome
It’s a structure of nucleic acids and proteins found in the nucleus of most living cells, carrying genetic information in the form of genes
What is a gene
Short length of DNA on a chromosome which codes for a particular characteristic or protein
What is an allele
It’s each of two or more alternative forms of a gene that arise by mutation and are found at the same place on a chromosome. It’s a specific variation of a gene or a specific segment of DNA.
What is a dominant allele ?
It’s a variation of a gene that will produce a certain phenotype, even in the presence of other alleles. It’s dominant as one copy produces enough enzymes to supply a cell.
What is a recessive allele?
It’s a variety of genetic code that doesn’t create a phenotype if a dominant allele is present. The recessive allele’s effects are masked by the more dramatic effects of the dominant allele.
What is homozygous
It’s having two identical alleles of a particular gene or genes
What is heterozygous
It’s having two different alleles of a particular gene or genes
What is genotype
It’s the set of genes in our DNA responsible for a particular trait.
What is phenotype
It’s the physical expressions or characteristics of that trait.
What is a genome?
It’s the entire genetic material of an organism
What does the genome influence
The genome and its interaction influence the development of the phenotype of an organism
What’s discontinuous variation
It’s a characteristic that can fall into distinct groups.
What is discontinuous variation caused by
Genetics only and it only involves one or very few genes
What are some examples of discontinuous variation and how can it be displayed?
Gender, eye colour, wrinkled or non wrinkled seeds
Bar chart
What is continuous variation
It’s a characteristic that can be any value between a range
What are the causes of continuous variation
Genetic and environmental
Involves multiple genes
What are the examples of continuous variation and how can it be displayed
Leaf surface area, length of fur, skin colour
Histogram (normally just the line)
How do all variants arise and what do they have an effect on?
Mutations and most have no effect on the phenotype, some influence the phenotype and very few determine the phenotype
What are most phenotypic features results of?
Multiple genes rather than single gene inheritance
What are the advantages of asexual reproduction
Produces lots of offspring very quickly ( E. coli = divides every 30 mins)
Only one parent in needed so organisms can reproduce whenever the conditions are most favourable ( don’t have to wait for mate) (E.g. aphids reproduce in summer when there’s more food)
What are the disadvantages of asexual reproduction
No genetic variation in offspring ( if environment changes then conditions are unfavourable and the whole population is affected)
E.g. the Black Sigatoka = disease which effects banana plants which reproduce asexually. This means of there’s an outbreaks then all will be affected as none are resistant
What are the advantages of sexual reproduction
- Creates genetic variation in the population
- if environment changes then it’s more likely that that some individuals will have characteristics that allow them to survive
- Over time this causes evolution as species become more adapted to the environment
What are the disadvantages of sexual reproduction
It takes more time and energy
Produces fewer offspring ( e.g organisms need to find and attract mates like male bowerbirds build their females an attractive structure and then dance for them)
Two parents are needed to it can be a problem if they are isolated (polar bears live alone so make polar bears have to walk 100 miles to find a mate)
What is a clone
An organism that is genetically identical to its parent
What is asexual reproduction
It is when each organism contains identical genes which are clones of the parent cell
How do bacteria reproduce
They replicate their genetic material and divide in half by mitosis
What is sexual reproduction
It requires 2 parents and they each produce their own sex cells called gametes, the sperm and the ova fuse together in fertilisation to produce the offspring.
How do plants reproduce
To create a new seed the pollen (male) fuses with the egg cell in the ovule .
What does haploid mean
They contain half the number of chromosomes of other body cells (23 in human gametes )
What does diploid mean
They contain 2 sets of each chromosome ( 46 in humans)
This comes form each of the haploid gametes
What is the role of meiotic cell division in halving the chromosome number to form gametes
By the process of meiosis the two haploid sex gametes have 23 chromosomes each so when they fuse they form a diploid cell. It’s also the source of genetic variation
Explain the process of meiosis:
- sexual reproduction so occurs in gonads (texts/ovaries) - the parent cell has 23 chromosomes from the mother and 23 from the father (46 chromosomes and 46 chromatids)
- The DNA unzips and the free mRNA join with the bases to replicate the chromosomes (46 chromosomes and 92 sister chromatids)
- the homologous pairs (similar pairs) of chromosomes go together
- here some sections of the DNA between the chromosomes are crossed and get swapped
- the chromosomes line up along the centre and split apart
- this forms 2 new cells which have a mixture of the mothers and the fathers chromosomes and this mixture creates genetic variation in the offspring (each cell has 46 chromosomes and 46 chromatids)
- in the second division the chromosomes line up in the centre again
- this time the arms of the chromosomes are pulled apart ( arm = 1 chromatid)
- this gives you 4 haploid gametes (germ cells) and each has a single set of gametes (23 chromosomes and 23 chromatids) - half no. Of chromosomes from start
- the cells are not identical but genetically varied
What happens when two sex gametes fuse
They fuse to make a fertilised egg cell which is a diploid cell with 46 chromosomes. This egg cell then divides by mitosis and develops into an embryo. After reaching a threshold, these cells differentiate into specialised cells.
How does genetic variation occur
You have 2 copies of genes for each characteristic (one from each parent). These 2 copies may be different or the same (different forms of a gene = alleles)
What type of characteristics does BB have
Homozygous dominant
Both are copies of same allele
What type of characteristics does Bb have
Heterozygous
Different versions of a gene - capital letter is written first
What type of characteristics does bb have
Homozygous recessive