Test one Ch 1 Flashcards
definition of evolution
the change in traits of groups of organisms over time
what units does DNA store biological information
nucleotides
what are genes
DNA regions that encode proteins
where are genes located
in chromosomes
what is a genome
the DNA within the entire collection of chromosomes in each cell of an organism
what are proteins composed of
amino acids
why did DNA take over for RNA
RNA unstable, become intermidiary in converting the information of DNA into seq of amino acids
what is the genetic code
the sequence of nucleotides, coded in triplets along the mRNA, that determines the sequence of amino acids in proteins
what is a mutation
heritable alterations in DNA sequence
what gene was mutated in flies eyes
Pax6
what is a gene family
a set of closely related genes with slightly different functions that most likely arose from a succession of gene duplication events
what underlies the evolution of new genes with new functions
duplication followed by divergence
why do geneticists analyze whole genomes
find a gene mutation
