General Biology Flashcards
Do mature red blood cells have genetic materal?
No, but they are still eukaryotic
makes them not helpful to study genetic mutations
Endosymbiotic theory
mitochondria arose when bacteria was engulfed by another cell
What type of DNA does mitochondria have? Where does it come from?
mitochondria has circular mtDNA
comes from mother (matrilinearly)
Does the ER have a double membrane?
yes
chaperone proteins
help fold proteins in the rough ER
Smooth ER
lipid metabolism
detox (many found in liver cells)
stores Ca2+ in muscle cells
Autophagy
when lysosomes digest intracellular debris
Where do lyzosomes come from?
they pinch off the golgi body
What pH do lyzosomes have?
low pH so if their contents spill out they will not work in the cytoplasm
Peroxides
breakdown fatty acids through B-oxidation
help detox reactive oxidative species
microfilaments
part of the cytoskeleton
composed of actin polymers (protein)
work with cell movement and make the cleavage furrow
work in muscle contraction w/ myosin
Microtubules
part of the cytoskeleton
tubulin dimers
motor proteins walk along microtubules
found in flagella and cilia (only in eukaryotes)
Where are cilia located?
lungs, fallopian tubes in eukaryotes
made out of microtubules
Motor proteins
kinesin (moves up neuron axon, away from cell)
dynein (moves towards the center of the cell)
Centrosome
main MTOC
composed of 2 centrioles
separates chromosomes during division
capping proteins
can stop growing of microtubulues/microfilaments
also prevent cytoskeletal degradation
+/- ends of microtubules/microfilaments
grow at + end and shrink at - end
examples of intermediate filaments
keratin and lamin
multimeric proteins
contain two or more subunits
examples of multimeric proteins
F-actin
intermediate filaments
Difference between nucleotides and nucleosides
nucleosides don’t have a phosphate group
What is charge on phoshpate group of nucleotides?
negative
cAMP structure
one phosphate connected cycllaly to rest of nucleotide
cyclic nucleotide
How many rings do purines have?
2
How many rings do pyrimidines have?
1
Which amino acids are pyrimidines?
CUT as PY
C/U/T
Which amino acids are purines?
PUR As Gold
A/G
Which has a higher Tm A/T pairs or C/G pairs?
C/G pairs since they have 3 hydrogen bonds between them, they have a higher melting temp
What interactions are found between adjacent nucleotides?
hydrophobic interactions
Chargaff’s Rule
1:1 ratio between AT and CG
Where is 5’ end of nucleic acid?
where the phosphate group is
Melting temperature
point where 1/2 of DNA is denatured
How to denature DNA
add heat or urea
Annealing
two DNA strands come back together
Types of DNA
B-DNA: standard DNA, right-hand, 34A between groves
A-DNA: right-hand DNA but smaller groves
Z-DNA: left hand DNA
siRNA and miRNA
can inhibit gene expression by harming mRNA
hnRNA
a precursor to mRNA
Why is the genetic code degenerate?
it has multiple codons to code for a single amino acid
What are the start and stop codons?
Start: AUG (codes for Met)
Stop: UAA, UAG, UGA
meselson and stahl
determined DNA replication was semi-conservative
Differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic DNA replication?
prokaryotes: 1 origin of replication, circular chromosome
eukaryotes: multiple origins of replication, linear DNA
Helicase
unwinds DNA
single stranded binding proteins
keep DNA separated
topiosemerase
cuts strands to relax stress / over coiling
prevents supercoiling of DNA after opened
primase
synthesizes RNA primer for polymerase to bind
DNA polymerases
synthesize DNA in 5’ to 3’ direction
read DNA in 3’ to 5’ direction
DNA ligase
connects Ozaki fragments along sugar-phosphate backbone
reverse transcriptase
synthesizes DNA from RNA
used by viruses, allows DNA to be placed in its hosts’ genome
telomerase
extends telomeres (repetitive sequences at end of chromosomes)
uses RNA template
Types of DNA polymerases in bacteria
I: Removes RNA primer, replaces primer w DNA, repairs DNA
II: repairs DNA
III: synthesizes new DNA and proofreads DNA with exonuclease activity
exonuclease activity
helps proofread newly synthesized DNA
part of DNA polymerase’s function
Leading strand
moves towards the replication fork
starts at 3’ end and moves to 5’ end at the fork
synthesizes in 5’ to 3’ direction
Lagging strand
discontinous replication
synthesizes in 5’ to 3’ direction
moving away from the replication fork towards the 5’ end away from the fork
What are histones made of?
proteins
Kinetochore
protein complexes at the chromosomal centromere
kinetochores connect two homologous chromosomes or two sister chromatids
spindle fibers connect to the kinetochore
What are spindle fibers made of?
microtubules
How many chromosomes do humans have?
46 unique chromosomes arranged into 23 pairs
What do we start mitosis with?
46 chromosomes that have been replicated to form sister chromatids. Have 46 sister chromatids
What do we start meiosis with?
23 pairs of chromosomes matched with another 23 pairs of chromosomes to make homologous chromosomes in tetrad form
gives us a total of 46 unique chromosomes
23 replicated, unique chromosomes from each parent
Nucleosomes
smaller segments of DNA organized around histones
made up of histones (protein) and DNA (nucleic acid)
H1 histone
linking protein
linker DNA
connects nucleosomes
Centromere
holds together two sister chromatids
heterochromatin
highly packaged DNA
tightly coiled
easy to see when stained
What form is DNA in during division?
heterochromatin
euchromatin
loosely packaged DNA
hard to see when stained
in this state during transcription and replication
VNTR and STR
types of segments of repeating DNA
how many repeats a person has can determine their specific DNA identity
Single nucleotide polymorphism
also known as SNiP
different nucleotides at a single location in a gene
Transposons
jumping genes
sequences can move to other parts of genome
increase diversity and help with evolution
Class 1 transposons
use copy and paste mechanism
DNA polymerase generates mRNA that codes for reverse transcriptase to make DNA strand to reinsert itself into genome
Class 2 transposons
use cut and paste mechanism
telomeres
repeating sequence on end of chromosomes
allows for wiggle room when replicating end of DNA
Autosomes
non-sex chromosomes
have 22 pairs
What type of cells do not replicate and therefore remain in the G0 phase?
neurons
Interphase
contains G1, S, G2 phases
DNA is seen as euchromatin to replicate
How many chromosomes do we have after DNA replication?
still have 46 unique chromosomes, but amount of DNA material doubled as we created sister chromatids
What is the checkpoint in the M phase?
that the spindle fibers are correctly attached
What regulates the cell cycle?
cyclin levels
What do high levels of cyclin do?
bind to specific cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs)
CDKs will phosphorylate proteins needed in that phase of the cell cycle
Do prokaryotes undergo mitosis or meiosis?
they do not undergo either
Somatic cells
body cells
What is the order of the phases of mitosis?
PMAT
nondisjunction
failure of homologous chromosomes or sister chromatids to separate, resulting in abnormal chromosome distribution
aneuploidy
incorrect number of chromosomes
Results of meiosis and mitosis
meiosis: 4 haploid, different cells
mitosis: 2 diploid, identical cells
crossing over
occurs at chiasmata when tetrad between two pairs of homologous chromosomes overlap
Where does meiosis occur?
germ cells
after what phase of meiosis are the daughter cells haploid? why?
after meiosis I
homologous chromosomes have separated. so now have 23 unique chromosomes that in the form of replicated sister chromatids
Difference between flagella of prokaryotes and eukaryotes?
eukaryotes’ flagellum are made of microtubules
What makes up microfilaments?
actin
locus
where genes are located on a chromosome
What type of genotype do carriers have?
heterozygous
hemizygous
refers to having only one copy of a gene
ex: males only have one copy of genes on the Y chromosome
Are loss of function mutations recessive or dominant?
recessive
Are gain of function mutations recessive or dominant?
dominate
Test cross
used to determine if a genotype is RR or Rr
cross with a homozygous recessive individual rr and look at outcomes
Dihybrid cross normal ratios
9:3:3:1
56% 18% 18% 6%
How can you tell if genes are linked from a dihybrid cross?
the ratios will be different than the typical 9:3:3:1 ratio
indicates that the genes are linked
incomplete dominance
blending of phenotypes in heterozygotes
penetrance
% of individuals with a given genotype who display the associated phenotype
whether or not phenotype is there
example of penetrance
someone may have the gene for breast cancer, but not develop breast cancer
expressivity
severity of phenotype
to what degree is the phenotype present
segregation
allele pairs segregate randomly from each other into gametes
independent assortment
alleles for separate traits are independently inherited
genetic recombination
crossing over can unlink two genes on the same chromosome
genetic linkage
two genes close together on the same chromosome are likely to be inherited together
1 centimorgan
distance associated with a 1% change in recombination frequency
double crossover
can reverse recombination on genes far away from each other on the same chromosome
When does a cell commit to mitosis?
after the G1 phase
by starting to replicate DNA, the cell has committed to mitosis unless derailed at later checkpoints
fitness
likelihood to survive in a given environment and REPRODUCE
inclusive fitness
traits passed on that promote survival of the group
ex: altruism and empathy
What does the Hardy Weinburg equation connect?
alleles to phenotypic frequency in a population
What do terms mean in Hardy Weinburg?
2pq = heterozygous q^2 = homozygous recessive p^2 = homozygous dominant
p= dominant allele frequency q = recessive allele frequency
stabilizing selection
favors intermediate phenotypes
directional selection
favors one extreme phenotype
disruptive selection
favors extreme phenotypes over the intermediate
inverse of stabilizing selection
genetic drift
change in gene pool due to chance
more likely in smaller populations
examples of genetic drift
bottleneck effect and founder effect
bottleneck effect
natural disaster leaves small population with certain traits expressed at unnaturally higher levels
founder effect
population migrates away and has less genetic variation
gene flow
movement of alleles due to migration between populations
types of reproductive isolation
prezygotic and postzygotic barriers
convergent evolution
species not from same common ancestor develop the same trait
parallel evolution
species from same common ancestor develop same traits independently