Block 4 biochem part 2 Flashcards
in humans, DNA methylation occurs at the C-__ position of cytosine residues
5
CpGs (cytosine-phosphate-guanine) in promoter region of DNA is site of 80% of DNA ______
methylation
How would DNA hypermethylation cause cancer?
silence expression of tumor suppressor genes
How would DNA hypomethylation cause cancer?
allow increased transcription of oncogenes
where do most of our methyl groups for DNA methylation come from?`
folic acid
genomic imprinting-
one copy of a gene is epigenetically silenced
In genomic imprinting, even though the DNA sequence for a given gene is exactly the same in both copies, it is expressed differently based on:
whether the expressed gene is maternally or paternally derived
completion of embryogenesis requires both differential maternal and paternal _________
genomic expressions
gynogenote-
female pronuclei + female pronuclei; diploid zygote that has 2 sets of female chromosomes instead of 1 male 1 female
gynogenotes fail to develop _______, but _______ develops normally
- extraembryonic tissue
- embryo proper
androgenote-
male pronuclei + male pronuclei
androgenotes fail to develop ________, but ______ develops normally
- embryo proper
- extraembryonic tissue
ovarian dermoid cyst-
all female derived genetic material. Can result from spontaneous ovarian oocyte activation with duplication of maternal genome
hydatidiform mole-
all male derived genetic material. An enucleate egg fertilized by haploid sperm, or egg is fertilized by 2 sperm and subsequent loss of maternal pronucleus. A complete mole has little to no fetal tissue and hyperplastic embryonic tissue growth
Histone proteins are _______ charged on lysine rich amino terminal tails that neutralize the charge from DNA
positively
How does acetylation make DNA more transcribable?
adding acetyl to histone negates positive charge and reduces affinity of DNA for histone
the acetylation enzyme-
HAT (histone acetyltransferase)
Trichostatin A-
a histone deacetylase inhibitor, activates genes
LYON hypothesis-
during embryonic development, one X chromosome in a female embryo is turned off in every cell at random and all progeny from this cell have the same X turned off. Females are mosaics
XIC (X inactivation center)
regulates X inactivation
_______ gene makes RNA that inactivates one of the two X chromosomes in a normal female
Xist
If extra X chromosomes are inactivated anyways, why are Kleinfelter (XXY) abnormal?
there are pseudoautosomal regions on X and Y chromosomes that escape inactivation, so in the case of Kleinfelter, they have normal genetics, but a little extra chromosome input from the pseudoautosomal region of the second X
Prader-Willi syndrome-
fat, short, mentally retarded, small hands
caused by loss of paternal 15q11.2-q13.1 expression (due to improper imprinting) and gain of expression of SNRPN
Angelman syndrome-
laughing, retardation, motor retardation, no speech, unusual face
caused by loss of paternal 15q11.2-q13.1 expression (due to improper imprinting) and gain of expression of UBE3A
behavior/expression of imprinted genes does not depend on _________. It depends on ______________
- sex of individual in which those genes reside
- the sex of the parent from which the particular allele was inherited
blunt ends of DNA can be rejoined by:
T4 DNA ligase
The frequency with which a specific restriction site is cut is directly correlated with:
the frequency in which that restriction site appears in DNA
vector-
DNA molecule used to clone a piece of foreign DNA
What does a vector need to successfully produce target DNA?
restriction site identical to that of the target DNA restriction site, its own origin of rep., and a resistance gene for selection
________ vectors are used to clone DNA in humans
retroviral and adenoviral
cosmids-
artificial plasmids used to clone small pieces of DNA
cDNA library-
a library of DNA fragments that derive solely from expressed genes (retrotranscribed from mRNA)
Genomic DNA library-
ideally contain a copy of every nucleotide in an organism’s genome
there is a good chance that the restriction sites used to cleave genes for placement in a genomic library also exist within the genes themselves. To avoid cutting genes in half and compromising the quality of the genomic library, what is done?
limit the amount of time that the restriction enzymes have to cleave DNA (called partial digest)
How is a cDNA library made?
RNA is extracted from the cell, random primers are added, reverse transcriptase is added to convert it to DNA, alkali treatment destroys RNA, DNA pol, plus ligase is used to convert the ssDNA int dsDNA, then the DNA is ligated into cloning vectors.
cDNA libraries only contain the genes expressed in a given cell, via reverse transcription of its mRNA, so cDNA libraries are specific to ______, and lack ______
- cell types
- promoters, introns, and usually rRNA and tRNA sequences
expression vector-
vector that contains promoters for the effective cloning of cDNA, since cDNA doesn’t have it’s own promoters
probe-
a short piece of ssDA labeled with a detectable molecule that is complimentary to the DNA sequence of interest
how would you test for allelic specificity of a gene using hybridization?
isolate the gene from the Pt., run 2 separate reactions: one with a probe for the dominant allele, one for the recessive allele. If both react, Pt. is heterozygous. If one reacts, they are homozygous for that allele.
southern blot-
cleave DNA with restriction enzyme, run on gel, denature to ss, transfer to nitrocellulose, hybridize with probe, detect if DNA of interest is present
Northern blot-
same as southern, but with RNA
Western blot-
same as southern, but with protein. Differences include using antibodies as probes and using SDS PAGE for separation
polymorphism-
infrequent and harmless variation of DNA sequence usually occurring in noncoding regions
RFLP-
a genetic variant that alters restriction sites and/or the sizes of restriction fragments and can be observed as differences in mobility by southern blot analysis
SNPs-
single base changes in an individual. These can potentially modify or abolish a restriction site, altering restriction fragment lengths. Thus RFLP
Tandem repeats-
short sequences of repeating DNA that are different from person to person, so having a different number of tandem repeats in an RF makes that RF different from someone else’s corresponding RF. Thus, a RFLP