Chapter 18

Question 1

A protein that binds to DNA and stimulates gene transcription. In Prokaryotes, ______ bind in or near the promotor; in eukaryotes, ______ bind to control elements in enhancers.

Answer 1

Activator

Question 2

A type of eukaryotic gene regulation at the RNA-processing level in which different mRNA molecules are produced from the same primary transcript, depending on which RNA segments are treated as eons and which as introns.

Answer 2

Alternative RNA Splicing

Question 3

A maternal effect gene that codes for a protein responsible for specifying the anterior end in Drosophila.

Answer 3

Bicoid

Question 4

A small molecule that binds to a bacterial repressor protein and changes its shape, allowing it to switch an operon off.

Answer 4

Corepressor

Question 5

Cyclic adenosine monophosphate, a ring-shaped molecule made from ATP that is a common intracellular signaling molecule (second messenger) in eukaryotic cells. It is also a regulator of some bacterial operons.

Answer 5

Cyclic AMP (cAMP)

Question 6

A segment of noncoding DNA that helps regulate transcription of a gene by binding a transcription factor. Multiple _____ _____ are present in a eukaryotic gene’s enhancer.

Answer 6

Control Element

Question 7

The structure and functional divergence of cells as they become specialized during a multicellular organism’s development. ____ _________ depends on the control of gene expression.

Answer 7

Cell Differentiation

Question 8

A maternal substance, such as a protein or RNA, placed into an egg that influences the course of early development by regulating the expression of genes that affect the developmental fate of cells.

Answer 8

Cytoplasmic Determinant

Question 9

The progressive restriction of developmental potential in which the possible fate of each cell becomes more limited as an embryo develops. At the end of _____, a cell is committed to its fate.

Answer 9

Determination

Question 10

The expression of different sets of genes by cells with the same genome.

Answer 10

Differential Gene Expression

Question 11

Inheritance of traits transmitted by mechanisms not directly involve ding the nucleotide sequence of a genome.

Answer 11

Epigenetic Inheritance

Question 12

A segment of eukaryotic DNA containing multiple control elements, usually located far from the gene whose transcription it regulates.

Answer 12

Enhancer

Question 13

A mutation with a phenotype leading to death of an embryo or larva.

Answer 13

Embryonic Lethal

Question 14

A gene that helps control the orientation (polarity) of the egg; also called a maternal effect gene.

Answer 14

Egg-Polarity Gene

Question 15

A phenomenon in which expression of an allele in offspring depends on whether the allele is inherited from the male or female parent.

Answer 15

Genomic Imprinting

Question 16

Any of the master regulatory genes that control placement and spatial organization of body parts in animals, plants, and fungi by controlling the development fate of groups of cells.

Answer 16

Homeotic Gene

Question 17

The attachment of acetyl groups to certain amino acids of histone proteins.

Answer 17

Histone Acetylation

Question 18

A specific small molecule that binds to a bacterial repressor protein and changes the repressor’s shape so that it cannot bind to an operator, thus switching an operon on.

Answer 18

Inducer

Question 19

The process in which one group of embryonic cells influences the development of another, usually by causing changes in gene expression.

Answer 19

Induction

Question 20

A substance, such as Bicoid protein in Drosophila, that provides positional information in the form of a concentration gradient along an embryonic axis.

Answer 20

Morphogen

Question 21

A gene that, when mutant in the mother, results in a mutant phenotype in the offspring, regardless of the offspring’s genotype. First identified in Drosophila.

Answer 21

Maternal Effect Gene

Question 22

The development of body shape and organization.

Answer 22

Morphogenesis

Question 23

A small, single-stranded RNA molecule, generated from a hairpin structure on a precursor RNA transcribed from a particular gene. The miRNA associates with one or more proteins in a complex that can degrade or prevent translation of an mRNA with a complementary sequence.

Answer 23

microRNA (miRNA)

Question 24

A gene found in viral or cellular genomes that is involved in triggering molecular events that can lead to cancer.

Answer 24

Oncogene

Question 25

A unit of genetic function found in bacteria and phages, consisting of a promoter, an operator, and a coordinately regulated cluster of genes whose products function in a common pathway.

Answer 25

Operon

Question 26

In bacterial DNA, a sequence of nucleotides near the start of an operon to which an active repressor can attach. The binding of the repressor prevents RNA polymerase from attaching to the promoter and transcribing the genes of the operon.

Answer 26

Operator

Question 27

A giant protein complex that recognizes and destroys proteins tagged for elimination by the small protein ubiquitin.

Answer 27

Proteasome

Question 28

The development of a multicellular organism’s spatial organization, the arrangement of organs and tissues in their characteristic places in three-dimensional space.

Answer 28

Pattern Formation

Question 29

Molecular cues that control pattern formation in an animal or plant embryonic structure by indicating a cell’s location relative to the organism’s body axes. These cues elicit a response by genes that regulate development.

Answer 29

Positional Information

Question 30

A normal cellular gene that has the potential to become an oncogene.

Answer 30

Proto-oncogene

Question 31

A protein that inhibits gene transcription. In prokaryotes, ______ bind to the DNA in or near the promotors. In eukaryotes, _______ bind to the DNA in or near the promoter. In eukaryotes, _______ may bind to control elements within enhancers, to activators, or to other proteins in a away that blocks activators from binding to DNA.

Answer 31

Repressor

Question 32

A gene that codes for a protein, such as a repressor, that controls the transcription of another gene or group of genes.

Answer 32

Regulator

Question 33

A technique used to silence the expression of selected genes. RNAi uses synthetic double-stranded RNA molecules that match the sequence of a particular gene to trigger the breakdown of the gene’s messenger RNA.

Answer 33

RNA interference (RNAi)

Question 34

A gene whose protein product inhibits cell division, thereby preventing the uncontrolled cell growth that contributes to cancer.

Answer 34

Tumor-supressor Gene