Topic 5 Flashcards
What is a genome?
a genome is the complete DNA of an organism
What is bioinformatics?
is when computers are used to analyse the sequence of bases in DNA and the sequences of amino acids in protein
In bioinformatics, what do the computers look for?
coding sequences to known genes, start sequences or sequences lacking stop codons.
What is systematics?
it compares the human genome of the genomes of other species, this provides info on evolutionary relationships and the origins of related species.
What is pharma-genetics?
is the study of the effects of pharmaceutical drugs on the genetically diverse members of the human population.
What is PCR?
the polymerase chain reaction is a technique for the amplification of DNA in vitro
What 3 things must be present for PCR?
many of the 4 free nucleotides of DNA, primers & DNA polyermase
Why are primers needed for PCR?
primers are complementary to specific targets sequences at the 2 ends of the region to be amplified.
What happens in the 1st stage of PCR?
DNA is heated in order to separate the 2 strands (breaking H bonds) - this is called denaturing (95)
What happens in the 2nd stage of PCR?
The DNA is then cooled, this allows primers to bind to complementary target sequences - this is called annealing.
What happens in the 3rd stage of PCR?
Heat tolerant DNA polymerase then replicates the region of the DNA using the primer as a starting point.
What are DNA probes used for?
to detect the presence of specific DNA bases in a sample of DNA,they can be used to determine the father,to detect single gene mutations.
What is a DNA probe?
a short, single stranded man made fragment of DNA that is complementary to the specific sequence of DNA bases that are being tested for.
