IMMS Flashcards
What is the final step of mitosis?
Cytokinesis
What happens in Interphase G1?
no visible activity but the following occurs
• Rapid growth
• Normal metabolic function
• New organelles produced
• Protein synthesis of proteins involved in spindle formation
S (synthesis):
• DNA doubles through DNA replication
• Histone proteins double through protein synthesis ( 2 x as much DNA at end of S)
• Centrosome replication
What happens in Interphase G2?
- Chromosomes condense (coil up and become visible)
- Energy stores accumulate
- Mitochondria and centrioles double
What happens in Prophase?
- Chromatin condenses into chromosomes
* Centrosomes nucleate microtubules and move to opposite poles of nucleus
What happens in Prometaphase?
- Nuclear membrane breaks down
- Microtubules invade nuclear space
- Chromatids attach to microtubules
- Cell no longer has a nucleus
What happens in Metaphase?
• Chromosomes line up along equatorial plane (metaphase plate)
What happens in Anaphase?
• Sister chromatids separate, and are pushed to opposite poles of the cells, centromere
first, as spindle fibres contract
What happens in Telophase?
- Nuclear membrane reforms
- Chromosomes unfold into chromatin
- Cytokinesis begins
What happens in Cytokinesis?
Cell organelle become evenly distributed around each nucleus
• Cell divides into two daughter cells with a nucleus in each and 46 chromosomes
What is the connection between mitosis and malignancy?
Something is defined as malignant if there are too many mitotic figure i.e. lots of dark
nuclei of different sizes
- Number of mitotic figures determine how bad cancer is, the more there are, the worse
it is
What are produced by meiosis?
4 haploid (HALF number of chromosomes i.e. 23) cells produced, which are genetically distinct from each other and the parent cell
What happens in Meiosis 1?
• Chromosome number is halved
• In Prophase 1, crossing over occurs between non-sister chromatids [genes sort
independently thus if 1 gene switches over, doesn’t mean another one will], resulting
in genetic diversity
• In Metaphase 1, random assortment occurs on the metaphase plate - also resulting in
genetic diversity
What happens in Meiosis 2?
Sister chromatids separate
• Haploid cells produced
How many days does male gametogenesis take?
60-65 days
How many sperm per ejaculate?
100-200 million
How many times must a primordial germ cell mitose to become an oogonia?
30
When do Oogonia enter prophase 1?
Oogonia enter prophase 1 of meiosis 1 by 8th month of intrauterine life (in-utero)
Does the cytoplasm divide equally in female gametogenesis?
No, cytoplasm divides unequally - 1 egg & 3 polar bodies (that apoptose - go on to die)
When is Meiosis 2 completed in female gametogenesis?
At fertilisation
What is Mendel’s Second Law?
Thelawof independent assortment states that a pair of trait segregates independently ofanotherpair during gamete formation. As the individual heredity factors assort independently, different traits get equal opportunity to occur together.
What is non-disjunction?
Failure of chromosome pairs to separate in Meiosis 1 or sister chromatids to separate properly in meiosis 2.
How can non-disjunction cause Down’s Syndrome? What are the percentages involved?
Can result in downs syndrome (non-disjunction at chromosome 21 resulting in trisomy 21) ~75% maternal meiosis I ~25% maternal meiosis II ~3-5% paternal non disjunction
How does non-disjunction cause Turner’s Syndrome?
monosomy (loss of a chromosome) - Turners syndrome, only 1 X chromosome.
What is gonadal mosaicism?
Occurs when precursor germline cells to ova or spermatozoa are a mixture of two or more genetically different cell lines (due to errors in mitosis)
• One cell line is normal, the other is mutated
• Incidence increases with advancing paternal age
• Parent is healthy ( since genetic change is only in the germline so all the other cells
are unaffected - have usual genetic components), but the foetus may have genetic
diseases
• More common in males
• Can be observed with any inheritance pattern, but most commonly autosomal
dominant and X - linked
• Observed in a number of conditions, including osteogenesis imperfect and duchenne muscular dystrophy
How many arms does a chromosome have and what are their names?
2, the long arm is the q arm and the short arm is the p arm
How many chromosomes do human’s have?
46 chromosomes, 22 pairs and pair
of sex chromosomes ( XY - male & XX - female)
What is the structure of DNA?
Found in the nucleus and in mitochondria (purely maternal DNA). Arranged in a
double helix with complimentary base pairing (A-T and C-G). Half genetic material from your mother and other half from your father. In cell DNA coils around proteins
(histones) and forms nucleosomes > supercoils > chromosomes
What is the function of DNA?
DNA is a template and regulator for transcription and protein synthesis. DNA is the genetic material thus the structural basic of hereditary and genetic diseases.
In which direction does DNA polymerase read and why does this occur?
DNA polymerase reads the template strand from 3’ to 5’ thus DNA is synthesised on the daughter strand from 5’ to 3’ since DNA runs antiparallel, the daughter strand is synthesised from 5’ to 3’ since phosphate at the 5’ is used by enzyme as a source of energy for reaction to occur (ACTIVATION ENERGY)
Why is DNA replication semi-conservative?
Because each resulting DNA double helix retains one strand of the original DNA, DNA replication is said to be semi-conservative
What is the role of Topoisomerase?
Unwinds the double helix by relieving the supercoils
What is the role of DNA helicase?
Separates the DNA apart by breaking hydrogen bonds between bases, exposing nucleotides
What is the role of DNA Polymerase?
Reads 3’ to 5’ and synthesises DNA on daughter strand 5’ to 3’ (this creates DNA by working in pairs to make 2 new strands of DNA, it starts at a primer)
What is a primer?
short strand of DNA that is the start point for DNA synthesis as DNA polymerases can only add nucleotides on to an existing strand of DNA
What is the role of the Single Strand Binding Protein (SSB)
keeps two strands of DNA apart whilst synthesis of new DNA occurs - prevents annealing to form double stranded DNA
What is the role of the primase enzyme?
RNA polymerase that synthesises the short RNA primers needed to start the strand replication process
What is the role of RNAse H?
Removes the RNA primers that previously began the DNA strand synthesis
What is the first step of DNA Replication?
Prior to cell division, topoisomerase unwinds DNA and DNA helicase separates DNA apart to expose two single DNA strands and create two replication forks. DNA replication takes place simultaneously at each fork.
What is the second step of DNA Replication?
SSB’s (single-strand binding protein) coat the single DNA strands to prevent re-annealing or ‘snapping back together’
What is the third step of DNA Replication?
The primase enzyme then uses the original DNA sequence on the parent strand to synthesise a short RNA primer. Primers are necessary since DNA polymerase can only extend a nucleotide chain, not start one
What is the fourth step of DNA Replication?
DNA polymerase begins to synthesise a new DNA (via complementary base pairing using free floating nucleotides) strand by extending an RNA primer in the 5’ to 3’ direction. Each parental strand is copied by one DNA polymerase.
What is the fifth step of DNA Replication?
As replication proceeds, RNAse H recognises RNA primers bound to the DNA template and removes the primers by hydrolysing the RNA
What is the sixth step of DNA Replication?
DNA polymerase can then fill the gap left by RNAse H
What is the seventh step of DNA Replication?
DNA replication process completed when the ligase enzyme joins the short DNA pieces (Okazaki fragments) together into one continuous strand.
What is the difference between DNA and RNA?
DNA is double stranded with a complementary chain. RNA is single-stranded. Three types of RNA; mRNA (messenger), rRNA (ribosomal) and tRNA
(transfer). DNA is present in cell at all times. Many mRNA species only accumulate following cell stimulation.
What is the first step of DNA Transcription?
Topoisomerase unwinds the double helix by relieving the supercoils. DNA helicase then separates the DNA apart exposing the nucleotides. SSB’s coat the single DNA strands to prevent DNA re-annealing
What is the second step of DNA Transcription?
Free mRNA nucleotides line up next to their complementary bases on the template strand/antisense strand of DNA ( U-T & C-G).
What is the third step of DNA Transcription?
RNA polymerase (specifically RNA polymerase 2) joins the mRNA nucleotides (catalysing phosphodiester bonds between them) to form and antiparallel mRNA strand( with a 5’CAP head and a 3’Poly A tail) - starting at a promoter (specific sequence that RNA polymerase binds to - initiation of transcription. Transcription is stopped at the stop codon)
What is the fourth step of DNA Transcription?
mRNA leaves the nucleus and attaches to an 80s ribosome
What is the fifth step of DNA Transcription?
At ribosome the mRNA (bases on mRNA are read in 3 - codon) sequence is used
as a template to bind to complementary tRNA molecules at their anticodon (3
bases complementary to codon on mRNA). Ribosome reads mRNA codon by codon,
one codon will code for a particular amino acid. This amino acid is brought by a specific tRNA molecule (carried on it 3’ end) since tRNA molecules are attached to specific amino acids. BASES ARE READ 5’ TO 3’
What is the sixth step of DNA Transcription?
Enzymes remove amino acid from tRNA and amino acids are linked together by a peptide bond (created by a condensation reaction), creating a polypeptide chain - a protein
What is the stop codon?
AUG
What are the three start codons?
UGA, UAG, and UAA
What process takes a gene from primary to mature?
Splicing to remove the non-coding introns
What makes the genetic code degenerate?
Many amino acids specified by more than one codon, but each codon specifies only one amino acid
Name three factors turning off expression?
- Activation of repressors (inhibitors of RNA polymerase binding)
- Enzymes no longer activated
- Transcription and processing proteins required for RNA transcription and or processing are no longer produced
Name the 9 types of DNA mutation
- Deletion
- Duplication
- Mutations of regulatory sequence
- DNA Damage
- DNA Repair Issues
- Mis-sense mutation
- Non-sense mutation
- Splice Site mutation
- Expansion of a tri-nucleotide repeat
What is a deletion mutation?
- Can be out of frame deletion which clearly disrupts the protein e.g. deletion causing the absence of dystrophin in duchenne muscular dystrophy. If C is lost, the sequence shifts to the right once meaning the reading frame of the gene is changed. Can cause quite catastrophic effects -early mortality
- Can be an in frame deletion - whereby a complete
codon is removed thus only one amino acid is lost. This
is less catastrophic. Known as in frame deletion since
the reading frame is not altered. Results is a milder
disease - later onset death typically
What is a duplication mutation?
Duplications of genes or part of a gene (of a single base or whole gene)
What is a mutation of regulatory sequence?
coding sequence still intact ,but gene itself is switched on or off
What causes DNA damage?
chemicals, UV and radiation
What are DNA repair issues?
Base or nucleotide excision, mismatch repair or transcription-coupled repair
What is a mis-sense mutation?
A point mutation in which a single nucleotide change results in a codon that codes for a different amino acid (substitution). This can have a varied affect and can result in a silent mutation and a non functional protein E.g Sickle cell disease where CAG was replaced with CTG. May or may not be pathogenic could be a polymorphism or of no functional significance
What is a non-sense mutation?
Point mutation that produces a stop codon - results in an incomplete, usually non-functional protein. E.g. Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy
What is a splice-site mutation?
- Affects the accurate removal of an intron
- Enzyme recognises CGAT as cutting site, A changes to C and then enzyme no longer recognises the sequence so excision does not occur thus sequence of intron is translated and proteins are synthesised.
What is expansion of a tri-nucleotide repeat?
- Huntington’s disease : CAG
- Triple repeat is repeated several times in the first part of the coding sequence
- The normal range of repeats is 15-20
- If the repeats are larger than 36, the patient will develop Huntington’s, if repeats
number is larger than 36 then onset of disease will be earlier. If repeats are less
than 36 than no disease
What is anticipation?
- Anticipation: in diseases such as Huntington’s, repeats get bigger when they are transmitted to the next generation resulting in earlier symptoms of greater severity
What is a karyotype?
number and appearance of chromosomes in a cell. Spreads are arranged in size order, biggest is pair 1 and smallest is pair 22, sex pair is pair 23
Define autosomal
Chromosomes 1-22, all chromosomes except the sex chromosomes(XY)
Define Locus
The position of a gene/DNA on the genetic map
Define Genotype
Genetic constitution of an individual
Define Phenotype
Appearance of an individual which results form the interaction of the environment and the genotype
Define Allele
One of several alternative forms of a gene at a specific locus;Normal allele is also referred as wild type
Disease allele carries the pathogenic mutation
Define Polymorphism
frequent hereditary variations at a locus. Doesn’t cause problems (thats mutations). Polymorphisms can be you more/less efficient or make you more/less susceptible to disease.
Define Consanguinity
reproductive union between two relatives
Define Homozygous
Both alleles are the same at a locus
Define Heterozygous
alleles at a locus are different
Define Hemizygous
Describes genes that are carried on an unpaired chromosome. Refers to a locus on an X chromosome in a male
Define Penetrance
Proportion of people with a gene/genotype who show the expected Phenotype
Complete: gene or genes for the trait are expressed in all the population
Incomplete: the genetic trait is only expressed in parts of the population
Define Variable Expression
Variation in clinical features (type and severity) of a genetic disorder between individuals with the same gene alteration
Define Sex Limitation
Expression of a particular characteristic limited to one of the sexes (BRCA gene)
Define Multifactorial Condition
Diseases due to a combination of genetic and
environmental factors. If the condition is more common in one particular sex, the relatives of an affected individual of the less frequently affected sex will be a higher risk than relatives of an affected individual or the more frequently affected sex i.e if a boy has the condition then female relatives are more at risk and vice versa.
Define Late-Onset
Condition not manifested at birth (where it does this is called
congenital). Classically adult-onset e.g Huntington’s
Define Autosomal Dominant (Mendelian)
A disease that only manifests in theheterozygous state.
• Affects both males and females in equal proportions.
• Affected
• individuals in multiple generations.
• Transmission by individuals of both sexes to
• both sexes.
• NOTE: sometimes both parents are unaffected, this can be for three
• reasons: most commonly they don’t have the genes for it, gonadal mosaicism or
• SOMETIMES the mother has REDUCED PENETRANCE or VARIABLE
• EXPRESSION i.e. disease is there but not expressed clearly. Only one defective
• gene needed. 50% chance of offspring having condition (1 affected and 1 unaffectedparent). Example. Huntington’s disease.
• ONLY WAY TO PASS ON DISEASE FROM MALE TO MALE. Thus if you see male-male transmission, MUST BE AUTOSOMAL DOMINANCE INHERITANCE
Define Autosomal Recessive (Mendelian)
A disease that manifests in the homozygous state.
Two defective genes required.
CARRIER PARENTS: 25% chance of offspring
(from 2 carrier parents) have condition. 50% chance of offspring being a carrier.
Calculations at conception. Healthy siblings have a 2/3 chance of being carriers.
Male and females affected in equal proportions. Affected individuals only in a singlegeneration.
Parents can be related e.g consanguineous (recessive disorders most
common in these types of family) Example. CYSTIC FIBROSIS:
- Most common autosomal recessive condition affecting whites in UK
- Chronic condition affecting mainly the lungs and gut, variable presentation
- Incidence of 1 in 25,000
- Population carrier frequency for cystic fibrosis is 1/25 (i.e 25% of the population
is a carrier) - NOTE, YOU ARE A 50% CHANCE OF CARRIER IF BOTH PARENTS
ARE CARRIERS
- NOTE: when looking at probabilities to see risk of being carriers etc. the already
AFFECTED CHILD is disregarded, so if you get one unaffected, 2 carriers and one
affected, the probability of being a carrier is NOT 1/2 since affected child is
disregarded, instead it is a 2/3
Define X-Linked(Sex-linked) Inheritance (Mendelian)
Caused by a mutation in genes on the X-chromosome. e.g. haemophilia and duchenne muscular dystrophy
• Males XY and Females XX.
• X-linked can never be passed from father to son (NO MALE-TO-MALE
TRANSMISSION - BECAUSE SONS ALWAYS GET THEIR X CHROMOSOME FROM
THEIR MOTHER) - all sons from affected male and unaffected female are unaffected.
• All daughters from an affected male are CARRIERS all sons are UNAFFECTED
• Males can NEVER be carriers
• Usually only males are affected
• Transmitted (usually) through unaffected females
• X-linked dominant example is Alport’s syndrome (kidneys)
• X-linked recessive example is Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy
Define Lyonisation
The process of X chromosome inactivation
• One of the two X chromosomes in every cell in a female is randomly inactivated early
in embryonic development.
• X chromosome inactivated to prevent female cels having twice as many gene
products from the X chromosome as males
• Only one functional copy of X chromosome
Define Barrbody
Inactive X chromosome since packaged in heterochromatin (cannot be transcripted)
Define Imprinting (non-mendelian)
For some genes only 1 out of the 2 alleles is
active, the other is inactive. For particular genes it is always the paternal or the maternal allele
Define Dominant Negative Effect
Dominant negative mutations (also calledantimorphicmutations) have an altered gene product that acts antagonistically to the wild-type allele. These mutations usually result in an altered molecular function (often inactive) and are characterized by a dominant orsemi-dominantphenotype.
Name the mendelian classifications of disease?
autosomal dominant/ recessive or X-linked
Name the non-traditional classifications of diseases?
Mitochondrial (ALL MITOCHONDRIA IS INHERITED FROM MOTHER -thus men cannot pass onmitochondrial mutations), imprinting, mosaicism
What are the values for dietary energy sources?
Lipids- 9kcal/g
Alcohol-7kcal/g
Protein- 4kcal/g
Carbohydrate- 4kcal/g
Define metabolism?
Metabolism refers to the sum of the chemical reactions that take place within each cell of a living organism
Define Basal Metabolic Rate?
amount of energy needed to keep the body alive in the rest state. It is the energy needed to keep the heart pumping, the brain working and the liver and kidneys functioning - BMR = 1kcal/kg body mass/hr (24kcal/kg/day), an adult requires approximately 0.8g/kg ideal body weight protein per day
Factors increasing BMR
High BMI
Hyperthyroidism
Low ambient temperature
Fever/infection
Pregnancy (due to increase in weight and thyroid hormone)
Exercise
Factors decreasing BMR
Age (as you age, BMR decreases)
Hypothyroidism
Starvation
Gender (females have lower BMR since they have less metabolically active tissues
Decreased muscle mass