GENE 5: Mapping the genome Flashcards
What is a genome map?
A diagram of the chromosomes which highlight the positions of key features such as genes and control regions
What are genome maps used for?
identifying disease genes and regions which are medically important
What type of resolution do cytogenic (karyotype) maps have?
Low
Name three types of genomic maps
- cytogenic
- genetic
- physical
What do genetic maps show?
How close the genes for co-inherited traits are to one another, by measuring their frequencies, using linkage studies
What is genetic distance measured in?
Centimorgans (cM)
What are centimorgans defined as?
The probability of a recombination happening between 2 points (1cM = 1% chance of recombination)
What statistical tests do genetic maps use?
‘Logarithm of Odds’ scores and measurements of linkage to polymorphic DNA markers
What does physical mapping do? What is used to do this?
Directly examines DNA using restriction enzyme mapping and DNA sequencing in order to measure distances in base-pairs.
Identification of genes responsible for a specific trait require a _______ of genetic and physical mapping
combination
What methods are being used to identify key sequences not yet found?
Computational and experimental reverse genetic methods
What genetic approaches are used in linkage analyses?
forward genetic approaches: which are used in family studies of monogenic phenotypes, and methods that study allele frequencies in whole populations
How do you identify the genes involved in creating polygenic phenotypes?
genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and linkage disequilibrium analyses.
What does linkage analysis rely on?
meiotic recombination between homologous chromosomes
This crossing-over has the potential to ____ linked alleles and prevents _________ in every generation
Split
co-inheritance
During linkage analysis, if there are fewer recombinant phenotypes, what does this say about the distance between the genes on a chromosome?
the fewer the recombinant offspring, the closer the genes are on the chromosome
Recombinant frequency cannot exceed 50%, why?
Multiple cross-overs are possible
How do you calculate recombination frequency?
Recombination Frequency = (Recombinant offspring/Total offspring) x 100
In humans, how many kb is 1cM roughly equal to?
1200kb
Why is cM not an absolute distance?
Varies as recombination does not occur with equal likelihood at all chromosomal positions
Give three reasons why linkage analysis is difficult in humans
- Difficulties assigning genes to autosomes
- Limited pedigree sizes
- Insufficient number of informative loci
What was established to have a close relationship with colour blindness?
Haemophilia A
How do you determine if a gene is on a sex chromosome?
pedigree analysis
Initially how was assigning a gene to a specific autosome carried out?
Viewing chromosome abnormalities under a microscope (e.g. uncoiling of chromosome 1)
How is assigning a gene to a specific autosome carried out now?
Somatic cell hybridisation - fusing a human and rodent cell to create hybrid cell lines to test for correlation between a particular chromosome and a cellular phenotype such as the production of a particular human protein or human cDNA. These were tested for using Western and Southern blotting or PCR and enzyme assays.
Why is it harder to do pedigree in humans?
inability of the scientist to choose human breeding partners which makes it difficult to establish parental genotypes
Why is the resolution of genetic maps often low for genetic diseases?
Pedigrees involving individuals afflicted with genetic disease are often small thereby limiting the number of meioses that can be analysed, which decreases the resolution of the map
How do you combat low resolution of maps of genetic diseases?
mathematical models are used to determine the uncertainty in inferring linkage from an observed set of births
Describe the mathematical models that determine uncertainty in genetic disease pedigrees. What software can be used? Calculation used?
A parametric logarithm of odds (LOD) score is calculated which defines the ratio between the likelihood of the alternative hypothesis versus the null hypothesis. These models can be defined using computer software such as GeneHunter which is an established program for conducting linkage analyses. The LOD score is calculated as follows:
LOD score = log10(probability of linkage/probability of no linkage)
What are informative genes?
present in two distinguishable alleles within a family pedigree