Lecture 1

Question 1

Genetics

Answer 1

Study of genes, heredity, and genetic variation in living organisms

Question 2

Molecular Genetics

Answer 2

Field of biology that studies the structure and function of genes at a molecular level

Question 3

How does a normal cell become a cancer cell?

Answer 3

When an oncogene mutates and becomes inappropriately activated

Question 4

Genome

Answer 4

Complete set of genetic instructions for any organism; can be either RNA or DNA; coding system for genomic information is very similar among organisms

Question 5

Luxturna

Answer 5

Genetically modified virus that ferries a healthy gene into the eyes of patients born with retinal dystrophy

Question 6

Transmission Genetics

Answer 6

Classical genetics, how traits are passed from one generation to the next

Question 7

Molecular Genetics

Answer 7

Gene structure, function, and regulation

Question 8

Population Genetics

Answer 8

Study of the genetic composition of groups and how gene frequency changes geographically or with time - essentially the study of evolution

Question 9

Model Genetic Organisms

Answer 9

Organisms with characteristics that make them useful for genetic analysis; only valuable because of the basic similarity among all living organisms

Question 10

Common Characteristics of Model Organisms

Answer 10

Short generation time, production of numerous progeny, ability to carry out controlled genetic crosses, ability to be reared in a laboratory environment, availability of numerous genetic variants, accumulated knowledge about their genetic systems

Question 11

Hox Gene Family

Answer 11

Homeobox sequence has remained mostly unchanged, so these genes appear to play a vital role in the general organization of the body in almost all animals

Question 12

C. Elegans

Answer 12

First multicellular organism to have its whole genome sequenced, published in 1998

Question 13

Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Answer 13

Model genetic organism that has been instrumental to identify genes encoding pigmentation differences among humans

Question 14

Preformationists

Answer 14

Believed that sperm or eggs contained fully formed humans; difficult to know if the tiny person was inside the sperm or egg and how the next generation got there; perhaps an infinite series of nesting dolls

Question 15

Blending Inheritance

Answer 15

Inherited traits are determined from a range bound by the traits found in the parents; Example: height of a person with one short and one tall parent, was thought to always be of some interim value between the 2

Question 16

Lamarckianism

Answer 16

If an organism changes during life in order to adapt to its environment, those changes are passed on to its offspring; Example: Lamarck believed that when giraffes stretched their necks to reach food, their necks grew incrementally and the resulting trait was passed to their offspring

Question 17

Pangenesis

Answer 17

Thought that the information needed to specify body parts traveled to the reproductive organs in packets (gemmules) which were packaged into sperm or eggs; packets were then distributed as needed in the resulting embyro

Question 18

Germ-Plasm Theory

Answer 18

Multicellular organisms produce germ cells that contain and transmit heritable information, and somatic cells which carry out ordinary bodily functions and do not provide hereditary information

Question 19

Genes

Answer 19

Distinct sequence of nucleotides forming part of a chromosome, a unit of heredity that is transferred from a parent to offspring; confer phenotypes and are located on chromosomes

Question 20

Allele

Answer 20

One of two or more alternative forms of a gene that arise by mutation and are found at the same place on a chromosome

Question 21

Chromosome

Answer 21

Threadlike structure of nucleic acids and protein found in the nucleus of most living cells. carrying genetic information in the form of genes

Question 22

Genome

Answer 22

Organism’s complete set of DNA, including all of its genes; each genome contains all of the information needed to build and maintain that organism