Module 6 Flashcards
What is a mutation?
- A permanent alteration to the nucleotide sequence of an organisms genome.
- Can effect protein synthesis.
What is a mutagen?
A agent which causes a genetic mutation.
How does electromagnetic radiation cause mutations?
- Radioactive chemicals or UV lift emit highly penetrating radiation.
- Radiation breaks hydrogen bonds in the DNA, deleting or rearranging nucleotide bases.
- disruption to DNA sequences causes mutation.
How do chemicals cause mutations?
- Radioactive agents release radiation that alter DNA
- Intercalating agents insert themselves in between nitrogenous bases, often causing frame-shift mutations.
- Some metals effect DNA repair and inhibit the process of transcription.
How do naturally occurring mutagens effect DNA?
- Viruses insert there DNA into cells, disrupting there normal function and often causing lasting mutations.
- Bacterial infections can reduce the efficacy of DNA repair systems.
- Transposons are segments of DNA which change there position, sometimes altering gene expression.
What are point mutations?
Mutations that only effect a few nucleotides within a sequence.
Biotechnology definition
The exploitation of living systems and biological processes to develop tools for technological use. Used in areas such as: Industry (food and energy) Medicine Environmental sciences Computational design
What are the types of point mutations?
- Substitution: when one nucleotide switches for a different one. e.g. A replaces C
- Insertion: when nucleotides are added to a sequence
- Deletion: when nucleotides are deleted form a sequence.
What are some medical applications of biotechnology
- Vaccines
- antibiotics
- stem cell treatments
- bio inspired materials (spray on skin)
- biosensors
What are some environmental applications of biotechnology
- bioremediation ( cleaning up pollutants)
- agriculture (transgenesis)
What are the different effects of point mutations?
- Silent: the mutation has no effect on the production of polypeptides.
- Missense: the mutation effects the codon altering the polypeptide chain.
- Nonsense: the mutation introduces a stop codon, resulting in a shortened, dysfunctional polypeptide chain.
What are some industrial applications of biotechnology?
- biodegradable plastics
- Improving efficiency of industrial processes using enzymes
- energy sources ( biofuels, photosynthesis)
What are chromosomal mutations?
Mutations that effect a substantial amount of a chromosome often a result of errors in meiosis.
What are the types of chromosomal mutations?
- Deletion: When a section of chromosome is removed.
- Inversion: When a section of chromosome is inverted and reinserted.
- Translocation: when a section of one chromosomes moves to another chromosome.
- Duplication: when a section of a chromosome duplicates.
Positive social and ethical uses of biotechnology
- it’s aim is to improve peoples quality of life by meeting the growing needs of society
- creates new genetic diversity
- open source directions ( creating a more democratic process for scientific ethics as well as open access data bases)
Concerns regarding social and ethical uses of biotechnology
- ownership (data mining, selling info to industries) / intellectual property
- commercial implementation (monopolies and consumer rights)
- regulation
- bio hacking
What is a somatic mutation?
Genetic alterations which are passed on via mitosis.
What are germ-line mutations?
Alterations to the germ cells are high are passed on via meiosis and will effect all cells in the body.
What are the future directions of biotechnology?
Synthetic biology - an emerging area that includes disciplines from biotechnology, molecular bio, genetics, biophysics, computer engineering and evolutionary bio
Concerns of the effect on biodiversity from biotechnology?
-creation of monocultures (we need to be careful as to not wipe competitive alleles from species gene pools)
- horizontal gene transfer (acquisition of genetic information by transfer from a member of a different species)
This may ultimately also lead to a reduction in biodiversity and loss of variation
What is the difference between coding and non-coding DNA?
- Coding DNA encode for a protein
- Non-coding DNA do not encode for proteins.
What are introns?
Sequences of DNA that are spliced out post-transcription.
- some encode for regulatory RNAs
- Introns regulate alternative splicing so many proteins can be generated by one gene.
What are some reproductive technologies?
- Artificial insemination
- IVF
- artificial pollination
What is regulatory DNA?
- Enhances and silences bind to the genome to control the expressing of particular genes.
- Promoters recognise particular genes (e.g. polymerase).
- Terminators mark the end of gene.
Artificial insemination uses and advantages
Uses - Livestock industry - Fertility treatment Advantages - efficient able to synchronise pregnancies and bypass issues of fertility
IVF uses and advantages
Uses
- Fertility treatment
Advantages
- able to freeze embryos and genetic screening
Artificial pollination uses and advantages
Uses - pollinating crops - genetic experiments Advantages - controlled inheritance of favourable traits
What are some cloning techniques?
Whole organism cloning
Therapeutic cloning
Gene cloning
How does variation occur in fertilisation?
The random combinations of chromosomes from each parent and the dominant-recessive interactions between alleles creation unique offspring.
Whole organism cloning uses and advantages
Uses
- livestock industry (production of genetically identical offspring)
Advantages
- definite inheritance of desirable traits
Therapeutic cloning uses and advantages
Uses
- medicine (stem cell technologies)
Advantages
- stem cells are able to differentiate into any cell
How does variation in meiosis occur?
- Mutation during DNA replication
- Crossing over
- Random segregation (separation of alleles)
- Independent assortment (alleles sorted into gametes)
Gene cloning uses and technologies
Uses
- medicine and industry (production of important molecules on a large scale)
Advantages
- production of biologically relevant proteins (eg. insulin, enzymes for industry)
What are population genetics?
The study of genetic differences within and between populations and how it changes due to natural selection and evolution.
Define gene flow.
The transfer of genetic variation from one population to another.
Define genetic drift
When the relative frequency of alleles within a population changes.
What are some recombinant DNA techniques?
- transgenesis
- gene sequencing
- gene therapy
- ELISA
- CRISPR
Define bottle necking
When there is an abrupt reduction in the population size and therefore a decrease in diversity.
Transgenesis uses and advantages
Uses
- agriculture (development of pest resistant crops)
- environmental biotechnology (bioremediation)
Advantages
- creation of organisms with multiple functions
- transference of favourable traits reduce pesticide use
-exploit biological phenomena
Define the founder effect
When a new population is established by small number of individuals.
Gene sequencing advantages and uses
Uses
- medicine (development of personalised treatments)
- genetic research
Advantages
- identification of genetic disorders and risk factors, understanding of evolutionary relationships and forensic biology
Gene therapy uses and advantages
Uses
- medicine ( reprogramming of dysfunctional cells/tissues)
Advantages
- treatment of diseases such as cystic fibrosis
Describe the process of artificial insemination
- extraction of sperm
- sperm is processed (washed or treated-antibiotics)
- sperm is inserted into uterus -injected through cervix
ELISA uses and advantages
Uses
-medicine (reprogramming of dysfunctional cells/ tissues)
Advantages
Forensic epidemiology, identification of infection
Benefits of genetic technologies
- The ability to edit cells to synthesise pharmaceutical proteins to treat disease.
- alteration of agriculture to breed species that exhibit favourable traits .
What are the positive outcomes of artificial insemination ?
- favourable genes can be selected and passed on to offspring
- increased efficacy of livestock industry
CRISPR uses and advantages
Uses
- molecular biology (gene editing tool)
Advantages
- elegant and cost effective for gene therapy/ transgenics
What is a negative outcome of artificial insemination?
By selecting and breeding particular traits the genetic variation of the species may become limited, which can lead to issues for the species survival.
Outline the process of In vitro fertilisation?
- hormone treatment stimulates the production of eggs
- multiple eggs are removes from ovaries
- sperm removed from male gamete is combined with eggs in lab - fertilisation
- fertilised eggs are incubated
- when incubated eggs form embryo the embryo is implanted into uterus or frozen
List some positive and negative outcomes that occur from In vitro fertilisation.
Positive - favourable genes passed to offspring, allows for genetic screening
Negative - expensive
Outline the process of artificial pollination.
- pollen is removed from the stamen of one plant
- pollen is applied to stigma of another plant
- pollen fertilises the ovum
(When very controlled passing of genetic material is required anthers of plant are removed to avoid self-pollination
What positive outcomes are reached through artificial pollination ?
- increased crop yields
- selection of beneficial traits
- creation of new plant species
What are negative outcomes of artificial pollination?
- can cause monocultures
- lead to decrease in biodiversity
