Genomics Flashcards
Define thymidine and cytidine.
Thymine + deoxyribose = deoxythymidine/thymidine.
Cytosine + deoxyribose = cytidine.
Why does uracil in DNA increase stability of DNA and efficiency of replication?
- Cytosine can deaminate spontaneously to produce uracil through hydrolytic deamination – and were this to happen there could be confusion as to which nucleobase in the pair were correct.
- Uracil-DNA glycosylases excises uracil bases from double stranded DNA, replacing them with cytosine again – to correspond to the opposite base.
- Because RNA is shorter-lived than DNA and any potential uracil-related errors do not lead to lasting damage – uracil remains instead of the more complex thymine.
What are the clinical applications of predictable pairs?
- Sequence of the complementary strand of DNA predicted from the coding sequence and vice versa
- Primers can be designed for use in combination with DNA polymerases to amplify specific DNA fragments for use in diagnostic assays.
- Targeted DNA amplification can be used to determine presence/absence of target gene and starting quantity of target gene.
- Both coding and complementary sequences can be used in genetic assays.
What can sequencing be used to do?
- Predict function of target gene
- Predict amino acid sequence of transcribed gene
- Determine species present within the sample
- Identify variants/carriers within a species
What are 2 ways that chemotherapy works?
Limiting cells cell turnover – immune mediated disease and neoplasia
Interference with host cell replication and transcription by anti-metabolites
Name 5 anti-metabolites.
Leflunomide
Mycophenolate mofetil
Azathioprine
Cytarabine
Fluorouracil
Describe the effect of leflunomide.
Interfere with enzymes required in the de novo synthesis of nucleobase uracil.
Describe the effect of mycophenolate mofetil.
Interfere with enzymes required in the de novo synthesis of nucleobase guanine.
Describe the effect of azathioprine.
Inhibits the de novo synthesis if guanine, but also masquerades as guanine, being incorporated into DNA halting replication and inducing lymphocyte and monocyte apoptosis.
Describe the effect of cytarabine.
Another anti-metabolite. It masquerades as cytidine, being incorporated into DNA halting replication. It also inhibits DNA and RNA polymerases and nucleotide reductase enzymes needed for DNA synthesis.
Describe the effect of fluorouracil.
Inhibits synthesis of thymidine from uracil.
Which anti-metabolites are particularly effective in lymphocytes and why?
Lymphocytes in particular rely on nucleobase de novo synthesis rather than recycling. Thus, use of leflunomide and mycophenolic acid leads to a relatively selective inhibition of DNA replication in T cells and B cells.
Describe the effect of doxyrubicin.
Evicts histones, inhibits enzymes required for replication.
Describe the effect of cyclophosphamide.
Cross links guanine and prevents replication. Chlorambucil cross links DNA.
Describe the effect of vincristine.
Prevents chromosomal separation during replication.
How to antiviral and antibiotic drugs take advantage of differences in pathogen cell machinery?
- Interference with viral replication
- Interference with bacterial DNA folding
- Interference with bacterial translation
Describe the effect of erythromycin.
Blocks movement of eth tRNA from the A site to the P site.
Describe the effect of chloramphenicol.
Inhibits peptidyl-transferase
Describe the effect of streptomycin.
Binds to 30S bacterial ribosomal subunit and blocks transition to a chain elongation complex
Describe the effect of tetracycline.
Blocks binding of amino acid tRNA to the A site.
What is recombination?
Typically there are 2-3 recombinations per chromosome. Recombination fraction is the proportion of alleles in one parent that could only have resulted from crossing-over during meiosis.
What is linkage?
Because whole segments move, genes that are close together are less likely to get separated than those further apart. This is known as linkage and is why some characteristics appear to be inherited together (e.g. those with red hair are more likely to be fairer skinned).
What are pseduoautosomal regions?
- Three small regions of homology the pseudoautosomal regions (PAR1, PAR2 and PAR3) exist between X and Y chromosomes
- These allow homologous pairing between X and Y chromosomes during meiosis
- Pseudoautosomal genes exhibit an autosomal, rather than sex-linked, pattern of inheritance.