molecular biology Flashcards
dna
highly discriminating typing systems
very sensitive ( touch dna, degraded samples, greater stability compared to ecological markers)
highly specific markers which can be targeted
amendable to automation
permits data-basing
conventional serology
relatively poor discrimination
useful for exclusions
low power of discrimination Pd
required visible blood and relatively large sample
power of discrimination
definition: probability of discriminating two distinct samples selected at random from the population of interest
power of discrimination increases as you go down
warm vs cold blooded
2 vs 4 legs
skin vs hair on body
male vs female
what color hair
what color eye
prokaryotic cells
lack a membrane bound nucleus and other organells
bacteria are prokaryotic unicellular microorganisms
eukaryotic cells
eu=true
interior of cell is organized into many specialized compartments or organelles each surrounded by separate membrane
plants and animals are eukaryotic multicellular organisms
dna
deoxyribonucleic acid
can be found in these cell types
blood, muscle, bone marrow, tooth pulp, hair roots, saliva, semen, tissue
items
chewing gums, envelopes, stains, washed stains, doorknobs, toothbrushes, sanitary pads
diploid
somatic cells
bodily
2 sets of each chromosome 46 total, 23 pairs
dna=6.4 billion base pairs
6.6 pg of DNA/cell
mitosis
all nucleated cells in the body except egg and sperm
haploid
gametic cells
sex
1 set of chromosomes
23 unpaired total
dna=3.2 billion base pairs
1/2 of diploid
meiosis
only egg (ova) and sperm
mitosis
prophase
chromosome duplication (4n)
duplicated chromosome (2 sister chromatids)
metaphase
duplicated chromosomes align at metaphase plate
anaphase telophase
sister chromatids separate and move to the opposite poles
2 diploid daughter cells (2n each)
meiosis
meiosis I
prophase I
chromosome duplication (4n)
tetrad (two pairs of sister chromatids)
metaphase I
tetrads align at the metaphase plate
anaphase I telophase I
homologous chromosomes separate and move to the opposite poles
two haploid daughter cells
half the number of chromosomes, but same number of sister chromatids as parent cell
meiosis II
anaphase II
sister chromatids separate
four haploid daughter cells
half number of chromosomes
half number of chromatids as parent
sperm
sperm head is difficult to break open because very dense with disulfide bonds
hard nut to crack
differential extraction
non sperm dna first
then sperm dna
exploits this
mitochondria are inherited from mother
father mitochondrion breaks off as sperm head enters egg
how can you get a full dna profile if sperm only contains 1/2 dna
all sperm cells have diff combinations of alleles
in totality it will give you a full profile
diploid cells
two types of dna
mitochondrial and nucleic
dna in blood
platelets and rbcs don’t have nuclei therefore no ndna
white blood cells have ndna
mitochondrial circular dna genome
each mitochondria has 2-10 copies of mtdna
only maternal mtdna is inherited
hypervariable regions I and II are used for forensic comparisons
number of mtdna»_space;> nDNA in terms of copy number
cell with many mitochondria only 1 nucleus
ndna is much larger than mtdna, degradation
high probability of degraded dada in a degraded sample but some mtdna probably undegraded
is your dna the same in all nucleated diploid cells
no
polymorphisms, mutations, telomere degradation
however, the forensic dna primers target regions of repetitive dna and we only measure the length of those segments so these are the same
unless in very rare situations
regions that don’t change therefore are the same throughout individuals entire life
what is the forensic advantage for having the forensically speaking same dna in every cell
we can obtain the same profile regardless of the tissue source and the age of the sample
blood or semen as evidence can be compared to a buccal swab
or evident from an old crime scene can be compared to a buccal swab collected at a much later time
if your dna is the same in every cell, why don’t all the cells look and act the same
not all cells express turn on the same genes
many genes are tissue specific and there are many factors outside of genes that regulate when a gene is turned on or off
independent assortment in meiosis leads to genetic variation
first glimpse of genetic variation independent assortment, random
with independent assortment at meiosis I
a single individual can produce 2^23 or 8.4 million different combination of chromosomes in a haploid cell
with fertilization of the egg by the sperm, there are over 70 trillion (2^23x2^23) possible combinations of chromosomes
crossing over increases genetic variation
prophase I
homologous chromosome pair
4 pairs of sister chromatids
as the chromosomes move closer together
synapsis occurs
chromatids break and genetic information is exchanged
also called genetic recombination
linkage equilibrium =. inherited independently
alleles are considered in disequilibrium when they are connected (always inherited together) , but crossing over can disconnect alleles not same chromosome
chromosomal rearrangements
meiotic nondisjunctions
when one or more chromosomes fail to separate during either meiotic division
trisomy 21 Is down syndrome
sex chromosome aberrations
XO - female, Turner syndrome
XXY - male, Klinefelter syndrome
XXX - female, trisomy X
duplications deletions and inversions
duplication is a copy number variant can be lethal when by essential carefully regulated genes, or have no affect at all
2 allele pattern in STRs
deletions loss of genetic material
unless confined to small or inessential area, usually lethal
inversions - breakage of a chromosomal region followed by rejoining in the reverse orientation
translocation - transfer of a region on one chromosome to another
structure of dna
bases sugar backbone base pairing double helix
5 atoms C, N, H, O, P
structure of dna supports its function
genetic expression
to code for proteins needed for survival
replication (in mitosis)
to propagate the hereditary material during development of an individual
recombination (meiosis) to shuffle hereditary material between successive generations
these are exploted by forensic dna analysis