Exam 5 Flashcards
Proteomics
- Study of the proteome (complete set of proteins found in a given cell)
- Protein microarrays can be used to analyze protein-protein interactions
Limitations of PCR
- The sequence of gene of interest needs to be known to synthesize primer (needs to be complementary enough)
- Potential DNA contamination:
- wrong DNA will be amplified - Accuracy of DNA polymerase:
- the entire transcription complex isn’t available, just polymerase is present, no proof-reading - Amplification size
- limited on how large can be synthesized
Testing for HWE
- After one generation of random mating, the genotype frequencies for two alleles can be calculated as:
p^2 + 2pq + q^2 = 1 - Proportion of AA in population= p^2
- Proportion of aa in population= q^2
- Proportion of Aa in population= 2pq
- They result mostly from random mating
if in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium -> allelic freq. determine genotypic freq.
Migration and its affects on allelic frequencies
- influx of genes from other populations (gene flow)
- Prevents genetic divergence between populations and increase variation within population
- As Migration increases -> change in allelic freq increases
- If allelic frequencies similar, migration has less effect on allelic frequency change
- Also depends on how much migration takes place
- Populations WANT variation, adds genetic variation to pops
- Through time, migration will cause frequencies of two populations to become similar
Calculations to deterimine # of genes/phenotypes
- Self-cross F1 and get F2
2. ¼ homozygous additive, half are heterozygous, ¼ are homozygous non-additive
Narrow-Sense Heritability
- determines degree of resemblance of parents and offspring
- use for quantitative traits
- used to determine the proportion of phenotypic variance due to additive genetic variance (additive effects of genes on phenotype!)
- h2 = VA/VP
- High value = offspring resemble parents
Heritability
- The proportion of total phenotypic variation in a specific population that is due to genetic factors
- NOT FIXED FOR A TRAIT (varies)
- applies to a specific POPULATION at any given time
- can NOT be applied to other populations
Genotypic frequency is determined by allelic frequency
They are directly related in..
- Hardy-weinberg
Biotechnology
- any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use
Types of genomics (4):
- Proteomics
- Structural genomics
- Comparative genomics
- Functional genomics
short term effect of mutation, migration, genetic drift, and natural selection
- change in allelic frequency
Mass spectrometry
- Method for precisely determining molecular mass of a molecule
- Mass-to-charge ratio (m/z)
- Identify proteins and post-translational modifications, or characterize multi-protein complexes
Hardy-Weinberg Law
- Mathematical model that evaluates the effect of reproduction on genotypic and allelic frequencies in a population
- The sum of the allele frequencies must equal 1
- THE PURPOSE OF HWL is to consider the impact of reproduction on the gene pool - once we know this, we can look at migration and natural selection
Phenotypic Correlation
- could be caused by genetic or environmental correlations
What increases genetic variation between populations?
- Mutation
2. Genetic drift
Genetic drift
- deviation from expected allelic frequency due to chance
- a form of sampling error
- Has a bigger impact in smaller populations (tends to even out in large ones)
- Changing the ratio of sexes lowers effective pop. (Remember, 1/2 of genes come from each sex)
- When one sex is under-represented, genetic drift increases
- Alleles can be permanently lost if frequency fluctuates to zero
- Alternative allele is said to be fixed
1. Population suffers severe size reduction - aka BOTTLENECK
2. Founder Effect - when a small number of individuals start a population, gene pool is limited
3. A population may be reduced in size for a period of time b/c of limited resource (space, for example)
fitness (W)
- relative reproductive success of a genotype (relative to the reproductive success of another genotype!)
- values from 0 to 1
- Part of natural selection
Library screening steps
- used to isolate only the clones that contain your gene of interest
1. Colonies of library lysed, and DNA denatured
2. Non-/radioactive probe combined w/ colony solution on membrane; probe hybridizes w/ denatured DNA
3. Membrane rinsed for excess probe
4. X-ray film detects hybridized probe (gene of interest)
5. Cell transferred to medium for growth/analysis
Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR)
- measures gene expression levels
- checks how much DNA amplification we get in real time
- The approach to determine amount of PCR product made during experiment
Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL)
- represent traits controlled by more than one gene that can be quantified
- Identifying QTLs using markers
- Compare the inheritance of some marker gene with a QTL (or a polygenic trait)
- These genes control polygenic traits
- QTL typically linked to or contains the genes that control that phenotype
- Can find where all the largest tomatoes have the same alleles for these markers
- Able to identify some QTLs in tomatoes and find which had additive alleles for these genes and which ones didn’t
- Tiny change between two bottom tomatoes (B) caused by just one particular gene
Positive assortative mating (PAM)
- like individuals mate
- Similar genotypes are more likely to mate than dissimilar ones
ex: tall humans mate with tall humans
Standard deviation (s)
- Also measures spread (like variance) but defines it within standard variables
- The square root of variance
Note: the mean plus or minus one standard deviation - includes ~ 66% of measurements in normal distribution - plus or minus 2 = 95.5%
- plus or minus 3 = 99.74%
Multifactorial/complex traits have phenotypic ranges of diff genotypes that…?
- Can overlap
Gene silencing
- using RNA interference: allows the gene to be turned off temporarily
Requirements
1.Must be recognized by Dicer
2. Complementary ONLY to target sequence - Delivery - Digestion (C. elegans), injection directly into cells
- Gene Trial for macular degeneration
What was the first human gene product manufactured by recombinant DNA technology?
- Insulin
Additive genetic variance (Va)
- additive effect of genes on phenotype
Knock-in
- the sequence is inserted at a specific location
- Gene addition in which a gene of interest is added to a genome to observe the over expression of a gene/ observe allele’s effects
ex. Can replace a mouse allele with a human allele
Reproductive isolating mechanisms
- Biological factors that prevent gene exchange
1. Prezygotic - prevents species from mating in the first place
- Prevents zygote formation
Ex: animals from diff populations
2. Postzygotic - Reproduction isolation even when members of two populations are willing/able to mate
- Zygote is formed but no gene flow occurs
Ex: genetic divergence prevents viability/fertility of hybrids
Cows without the PrP gene
- cow that does not make prion gene so they cannot pass to humans bsc disease
Key characteristics of DNA vectors:
- Contains several/unique restriction sites
- unique restriction enzyme sites on cloning vectors to know this is where we cut the vector - Must be introduced into host cells to allow independent replication of vector DNA
- Marker genes carried by vector to distinguish whether host cells have taken up vector
- Origin of replication
Agricultural biotech
- this technology modifies gene in just a few generations to get to desired trait
- both plants and animals
- Genetic manipulations done to produce transgenic crop plants of agricultural value
Ex: alter genes to confer insect resistance, herbicide resistance, nutritional characteristics
Molecular clock
- Time of divergence from a common ancestor estimated based on changes in amino acids/nucleotide sequence
Allopatric speciation
- Occurs when 2 populations that can interbreed are geographically/physically isolated from another and lose ability to interbreed
Artificial selection
- The process of choosing specific individuals w/ preferred phenotypes for future breeding purposes.
- Response to selection (R) = extent to which a characteristic subjected to selection changes in 1 generation…
Determined by two factors:
1. Narrow-sense heritability
2. Amount of selection(Selection Differential, S)
Whole-genome shotgun sequencing
- Approach used to decode a genome by shotgunning into smaller DNA fragments (by restriction enzymes)
- Fragment sequences then ordered based on overlaps in genetic code, and finally reassembled into a complete sequence.
- uses restriction enzymes to digest DNA into contigs which are aligned using computers to assemble the entire chromosome
- Relies on computers, maps are not needed
Most populations contain a high degree of…?
- Heterozygosity
Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)
- fragments of DNA with variations in nucleotide sequences
- changes in DNA sequence that introduce/remove restriction sites, restriction enzymes can’t cut
- base changes between individuals will introduce/remove RE sites
- these cuts/DNA markers show differences in availability and placement of restriction sites in a species’ genome.
- results in unique patterns in individuals
- can trace within families
- To test if someone has this alteration:
- use PCR and do a restriction digest (expect to have two restriction enzyme sites)
- observe numerous affected and unaffected individuals and observing which known RFLPs are inherited in tandem with the disease
Nonsynonymous substitution
- Nucleotide changes that DO alter amino acid sequence
Northern Blot
- process of transferring RNA fragments from gel to membrane
- Same process used as Southern blotting, but for RNA fragments
- Used to detect specific sequences of RNA by hybridization with complementary DNA.
Gene-expression microarray
- Analyzes gene-expression patterns in genetic diseases b/c progression of healthy tissue to diseased is accompanied by changes in expression of hundreds to thousands of genes
- Hundreds of thousands of experiments can be done at the same time
- Allows for direct comparison of 2 samples
- Expression arrays can also detect host response to certain pathogens
- Allows faster diagnosis/identification of pathogen
- Could provide target for treatment
Ex: cancerous cells vs. not
HW equilibrium
- at this point, expected genotypic frequencies are the square of the allelic frequencies and allelic frequencies determine the frequencies of genotypes
- For a single AUTOSOMAL locus
cDNA library
- RNA undergoes reverse transcription to form DNA, many fragments of cDNA
- Contains DNA sequences only from genes that are transcribed, so noncoding sequences not included
- a look at what is being expressed at the moment mRNA was collected
Quantitative measure of phenotype
- Phenotypic variance (VP) = differences between members of a group
What quantitative characteristic yield similar phenotypes even if genotypes are different?
- Polygenic Characteristics
Goals for modifying plants
- resistance to insects, environmental changes, herbicides
ex: golden rice had vitamin A added
If Hardy-Weinberg is met…
- Evolution does NOT occur
B/c there is no change in allelic frequency - reproduction alone does not alter allelic or genotypic frequencies AND ALLELIC FREQUENCIES determine FREQUENCIES OF GENOTYPES
long term effect of natural selection
- directional selection; fixation of one allele
- overdominant selection; equilibrium reached
Structural genomics
- Studies the organization/sequence of genetic info contained within in a genome
Polygenic trait
- A trait controlled by two or more genes that contributes to phenotype
- The alleles in the genes are additive and quantitative
Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DGE)
- Separates proteins based on isoelectric point (the pH their net charge= 0, horizontal separation) then size (vertical separation)
- Thus, 2 dimensions: proteins move along Y-axis and X-axis
Genetic-environmental variance (Vge)
- The environmental effect on a gene
Ex: AA grows better in dry environment, aa grows better in wet environment
Transcriptome
- All the RNA molecules transcribed from a genome
- The full range of mRNA molecules expressed by an organism
Intensity of wheat kernels’ red pigmentation experiment
A good model for this consists of:
- Genes affecting color segregate at 2 loci (in this case)
- Gene effect is additive
- environment plays no role
- Unlinked loci
Gene pool
- The genetic information carried by members of a population
PCR is a diagnostic tool for:
- Genetic testing
- Identification
- Parentage
Bioinformatics
- Emerging field consisting of molecular biology and computer science that centers on developing databases, computer-search algorithms, gene-prediction software, and other analytical tools
- an interdisciplinary field that develops and improves upon methods for storing, retrieving, organizing and analyzing biological data.
Biopharming
- The production of valuable(therapeutic) proteins in GMOs (animals and plants)
Low heritability estimate
- this indicates environmental factors may have a greater impact on phenotypic variation
Genetic bottleneck
- Following population reduction, drift can causes loss of alleles
- genetic diversity of population is reduced
Population
- A group of individuals belonging to the same species that live in a defined geographic area and actually/potentially interbreed
How do we determine if a population is in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium?
- Find out if the genotypic frequencies expected (under HWE) are the same as those that are actually observed
1. p = f(A) = (2nAA +nAa)/2N
2. q = f(a) = (2naa +nAa)/2N
3. nAA = of AA individuals
4. nAa = of Aa individuals
5. naa = of aa individuals
6. N = total # of individuals (2N b/c diploid, so two alleles at a locus)
How to read gel electrophoresis/DNA sequence for Sanger sequencing:
- Template DNA strand:
- read bottom to top 5’->3’ direction (smaller frag at bottom larger at top) - Complementary strand:
- find template and antiparallel of that 3’->5’ direction
Mutation and its affect on allelic frequencies
- All genetic variants arise through mutation
- BUT mutation alone has little impact on changing allelic frequencies (takes a LONG time, many generations)
Contiguous fragments (contigs)
- A group of overlapping clones of DNA fragments representing regions of the genome
- Result of whole genome shotgun sequencing
Mean (x bar)
- The average, the center of a normal distribution
- Calculated by adding characters of all members and dividing by total # of members
Founder effect
- New, isolated populations may have an atypical gene pool because they are founded by just a few individuals
- The smaller the group, worse the diversity
Selective breeding
- The selection and breeding of naturally occurring or mutagen-induced variants
- Used to enhance food production from plants and animals
- Done through artificial selection and genetic crosses
Transformation
- DNA in the environment is taken up by the cell
Ex: plasmid
Phylogenetic Tree
- graphical representation of evolutionary relationships
- Nodes, Branches, Rooted
Biopharmaceuticals
- Creating a product that is of medical importance through biotechnology
- cloning, cloning vectors
- Insulin was first human gene product manufactured by recombinant DNA technology
Epistasis
- A type of gene interaction in which one gene alters the phenotypic effects of another gene that is independently inherited.
RNA interference
- The process in which the introduction of dsRNA into a cell causes degradation of mRNAs containing the same sequence
Western Blot
- process of transferring protein fragments from gel to membrane
- Same process used as Southern blotting, but for proteins
- Used to identify specific amino-acid sequences in proteins w/ a probe
Subunit vaccine
- Vaccines that use only part of the disease-causing virus
- Utilizes a single or few proteins from a bacterium/virus to stimulate immune response
Flourescent In Situ Hybridization (FISH)
- Detects/locates a specific DNA sequence on a chromosome by exposing chromosomes to fluorescent probe
- Probe is hybridized to specific chromosome, reveals location of gene on that chromosome
- Tissues probed for a specific mRNA
- In situ= in cells/tissues
Multiple alleles
- are different forms of the same gene
Species
- Group of individuals that are able to reproduce
Transgenic organism
- Its genome has been permanently changed by the addition of DNA
- The genome is heritable, passed to generations
- “knock in”
Ex: in plants, a resistance to insects; nutritional value
Transgene
- in these animals there is foreign DNA in a transgenic organism