Genetics and heritability

Question 1

Gene regulation

Answer 1

a variety of processes that regulate the expression or repression of genes.

Question 2

Epigenetics

Answer 2

a stably heritable phenotype resulting from changes in a chromosome without alterations in the DNA sequence

Question 3

Gene expression

Answer 3

the process whereby a gene initiates the process of protein formation and therefore ‘activates’ the cell according to the protein that the genetic blueprint

Question 4

Phenotype

Answer 4

the observable characteristics of an organism, the product of its genes and the environment.

Question 5

Gene repression

Answer 5

the process whereby a gene’s blueprint for protein formation is silenced. This most frequently occurs through methylation.

Question 6

Dizygotic twins

Answer 6

clinical term for fraternal twins; this occurs when two fertilized eggs are implanted in the uterus wall at the same time. When two eggs are independently fertilized by two different sperm cells, fraternal twins result. The genetic similarity is the same as any other siblings.

Question 7

Concordance rate

Answer 7

the probability that the same trait will be present in both members of a pair of twins.

Question 8

Epigenetics (2)

Answer 8

A branch of genetics that focuses son “gene expression” - that is, how environmental factors may “activate” genes.

Question 9

Genetic vulnerability

Answer 9

An underlying inherited susceptibility - that is, the theory that you may have genes that may make you more likely to have certain traits if those genes are exposed to the appropriate environmental stressors

Question 10

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS

Answer 10

an examination of a genome-wide set of genetic variants in a large sample individuals to see if any variant is associated with a trait.

Question 11

Human Genome Project

Answer 11

the international, collaborative research program whose goal was the complete mapping and understanding of all the genes of human beings. All our genes together are known as our “genome.”

Question 12

Monozygotic twins

Answer 12

The clinical term for identical twins; they share 100% of their DNA.

Question 13

Linkage analysis

Answer 13

Matching genetic variations (polymorphisms) with the frequency of a behaviour

Question 14

Heritability

Answer 14

the estimation of the extent to which a character’s (or trait’s) variance within a population is due to genetics.

Question 15

Trait

Answer 15

any physical or behavioural expression of a gene

Question 16

Histone acetylation

Answer 16

the process whereby a gene is turned on or expressed

Question 17

Transcription

Answer 17

The process of copying a gene in order for a cell to follow its biological blueprint to create a specific protein

Question 18

Genes

Answer 18

sections of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). that instruct cells what to become and how to behave through the creation of proteins.

Question 19

Chromosome

Answer 19

a chromosome is made up of strands of DNA coiled tightly around proteins called histones.

Question 20

four nucleotides that make up DNA

Answer 20

adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine

Question 21

Genome

Answer 21

The complete set of instructions for protein construction written in your DNA

Question 22

Mitosis

Answer 22

the process whereby cells divide. It allows for complex organisms to be created by single cells.