Selfish Gene Flashcards
Where does DNA live? Where is it distributed?
Distributed among the cells
How many cells in an average human body?
A thousand million million
Every cell contains …
A complete copy of that body ‘s DNA
Building =
Survival machine
A room in the ‘building’ =
Cell
Book case in the room of the building =
Nucleus
The volumes of books in the bookshelf =
Chromosomes
A page in a volume =
Gene
How many chromosomes are there in a human?
46
What 2 things do DNA molecules do?
1) Replicate
2) supervises manufacture of protein molecules
The chromosomes consist of …
23 pairs of chromosomes (1a, 1b - 23a, 23b)
If the two pages (eye colour) differ, what happens?
1) Sometimes one prevails over the other - brown prevails over blue.
2) Most usual is that there is some kind of compromise
A gene that is ignored in the building of a body but that can still be passed on to future generations?
A recessive gene. Brown beats blue eyes but the blue eyed gene can still influence future generations through that brown-eyed individual (for example).
The dominant gene is …
The opposite of a recessive gene.
When two genes are rivals for the same slot on a chromosome they are called …
Alleles of each other
