Model organisms Flashcards
List the four model organisms described in class
Fruit fly, mouse, zebra fish, frog
List four benefits of studying the fruit fly
Short life cycle, a lot of offspring, best genetic tools of all organisms, they lay eggs
What is the disadvantage of using fruit flies?
They have the least similar genome to humans.
List the two benefits of using mice
Most similar to humans in terms of structures, genome, and development, good genetic tools for gene manipulation
What is a disadvantage of using mice?
In utero development
List two benefits of studying the zebrafish
Transparent and lay eggs
What are two disadvantages of studying the zebrafish?
They have months long generation time and their genetics are not at the level of the fruit fly
What are two benefits of studying the frog.
Lay eggs and have very large embryos
Why is having very large embryos beneficial for studying developmental biology?
Makes it easier to conduct manipulations, transplantation, protein, isolation, etc.
What is a disadvantage of studying the frog?
Messy genome (eight copies of each gene)
