Introduction and DNA Structure

Question 1

What is genetics?

Answer 1

It is the study of genes, how you inherit those genes, and their traits

Question 2

What is a gene?

Answer 2

A fundamental and functional unit of hereditary that carries information from one generation to the next

Question 3

What is the one-gene-one-enzyme model?

Answer 3

One gene makes one enzyme

Question 4

What is the monomer of DNA?

Answer 4

Nucleotides

Question 5

What does denaturing DNA mean? What does annealing mean?

Answer 5

breaks apart into single strands, comes together to form a double helix

Question 6

What is a model system?

Answer 6

It is a simple idealized system that is easily manipulated

Question 7

What are characteristics to look for in a model organism?

Answer 7

1. rapid development with short life cycles
2. small adult size
3. ready availability
4. tractability

Question 8

Drosophila melanogaster

Answer 8

a fruit fly, easy to raise in lab, large visible chromosomes, rapid life cycle (14 days)

Question 9

Escherichia coli

Answer 9

E. coli, most widely studied prokaryotic model organism, recombinant DNA techniques, short life cycle (0.5 hour per generation), infected by bacteriophage lambda

Question 10

Saccharomyces cervisease

Answer 10

baker’s yeast, one of the simplest eukaryotes, 12 Mb, rapid life cycles, genes easy to work with

Question 11

Mus musculus

Answer 11

mouse, closely related to humans

Question 12

Arabidopsis thaliana

Answer 12

a weed, small size genome, small plant size, rapid life cycle

Question 13

Zea mays

Answer 13

corn, large size genome (1500 Mb), large plant size, 1-2 generations per year

Question 14

What are applications of genetics?

Answer 14

Agriculture, Society, Medicine, Science