Molecular basics Flashcards
What is genetics?
It’s the study of genes and the core of biology . Also helps understand the function and malfunctions of a biological system
- How traits and disease are passed from generations
When did modern genetics develop?
Developed during the 20th century, first saw the nucleus, then chromosomes
Genetics as a practice began with who and when?
Gregor Mendel published hereditary transmission among plants late his works was rediscovered in 1900 by Correns, de vries, and von tschermak
When did Mendel’s work reappear and Garrod used what disease to do so? How did this lead to “recessive character” and then patterns of transmissions?
Garrod used alkaptonuria “black urine disease- accumulation of homogentisic acid”
- he saw that heredity of certain disease can skip generations where some are carriers or will rarely express the gene
What are the three major branches of genetics?
- Transmission Genetics: transmission of traits in successive generations
- Evolutionary genetics: origins of and genetic relationships among organisms and the evolution of genes and genomes
- Molecular genetics: inheritance and variation of nucleic acids, proteins, and genomes
What are the 2 principles of the Chromosome Theory of Inheritance?
- Chromosomes are the carriers of units of inheritance (genes)
- Chromosomes maintain genetic continuity through generations
Proceeding from the Chromosome Theory of Inheritance, what were the two main candidate molecules for the genetic material?
- proteins: diversity
- Nucleic acids: no sufficient diversity
What are genes
are the physical units of heredity, as originally posited by Mendel; now known to be defined DNA sequences
What are chromosomes
are long molecules of double-stranded DNA and protein, which contain genes
What are homologous pairs?
pairs of chromosomes, which carry genes for the same traits
What are homologous chromosomes? Do they have the same genes? Do they have the same alleles?
- chromosomes that exist in pairs
- same morphology
- same genes
- Same or different alleles
What is the difference between haploid (n) and diploid (2n)
Haploid = one set of chromosomes
diploid= two set of chromosomes
Identify and draw a chromosome with
- p arm
- q arm
- centromere
- sister chromatids
- telomeres
Draw
What is the correlation between phenotype, genotype, alleles and how it can lead to generic variation
Phenotype is what physical traits we can see, genotype is the genetic make up, allele are the alternative form of a gene (TT,Tt,tt)
- Genotypes are fixed phenotypes are not
DNA definition
Hereditary material in all organism (Nucleic acid)
RNA definition
can be used by viruses, and is synthesized during transcription
mRNA definition
under goes translation to produce proteins at structures called ribosomes
What are the three essential components of nucleotides?
- NITROGENOUS BASE
- PENTOSE SUGAR
- PHOSPHATE GROUP
How many nitrogenous bases are there and which ones are associated with DNA/RNA?
5 Bases
- DNA: A,T,G,C
- RNA: A,U,G,C
What are the three things that make a model organism?
- easy to grow
- short life cycle
- produce many offspring
What are the three things that can be used to study genetic variation?
Staining, blots and probes
What are the two gel types?
agarose and polyacrylamide
(T/F) Nucleic acids and most proteins are positively charged and will move to the negative charge end of the gel
False, since DNA is negatively charged and will move towards a positive charge
Identify the blotting types and what they identify.
- Southern blotting: DNA transfer; named after Edwin Southern
- Northern blotting: mRNA transfer
- Western blotting: protein transfer
What is genomics? And what are the other two types of -omics we discussed? (4)
- Genomics: study of whole genomes or genomes in their entirety
- proteomics: focuses on the study of the complete set of proteins encoded in a genome
- transcriptomics: studies the complete set of genes that undergo transcription in a cell
- metabolomics studies chemical processes involving metabolites in a specific cell, tissue, organ, or organism
Template vs. coding strand
Template: strand from which RNA is synthesized that runs 3’-5’
Coding: complementary partner of the template stand 5’-3’
What is the concept of LUCA and the three domains of life?
All life on Earth shares a common origin: “Last Universal Common Ancestor”
- Eukarya (true nucleus, multiple chromosomes)
- Bacteria (no true nucleus, single chromosome)
- Archaea (no true nucleus, single chromosome)
