Module 4 Flashcards
What are the natural biological roles of plasmids?
Plasmids in nature are small, circular DNA molecules found in bacteria, often carrying genes beneficial to the host organism such as antibiotic resistance or metabolic functions.
What is the function of restriction enzymes in DNA technology?
Restriction enzymes are used to cut DNA at specific recognition sequences, facilitating the insertion of foreign DNA into vectors like plasmids.
Name two features of plasmids that make them suitable as cloning vectors.
Small size, origin of replication, selectable markers, and multiple cloning sites are features that make plasmids suitable as cloning vectors.
What is the purpose of DNA ligase in DNA technology?
DNA ligase is used to join DNA fragments together, such as ligating foreign DNA into vectors like plasmids.
What is a gene?
A segment of DNA that contains instructions that encode for specific traits.
What are non-genic regions?
Stretches of DNA that do not contain genes. They can include regulatory sequences, structural elements, and regions of unknown function
What are repeats?
Sequences of DNA that are repeated multiple times throughout the genome (can be short or long).
What are distant regulatory elements?
What are some examples?
They are regions of DNA that regulate gene expression but are located far away from the genes they regulate.
Examples include enhancers and silencer, which can influence gene expression over long distances,
What are the functional roles of non-genic DNA?
Non-genic DNA can include regulatory elements that control gene expression, structural elements that maintain the integrity of the genome, and sequences involved in chromosome organization and replication.
What are the non-functional roles of non-genic DNA?
Accumulated mutations over time can lead to having no functional purpose. However, even seemingly non-functional DNA can have indirect effects on gene expression, genome stability, and evolution.
What are polygenic traits?
Traits that are controlled by multiple genes, and each contribute to a small amount to the overall phenotype.
They show continuous variation and are influenced by both genetic and environmental factors.
