TOPIC 8 - Using genome projects

Question 1

what is the genome?

Answer 1

the complete set of genetic information contained in the cells of an organism

Question 2

what is genome sequencing?

Answer 2

• identifying the DNA base sequence of an individual= allows us to determine the amino acid sequence of the polypeptides coded for by that DNA.

Question 3

what is the proteome?

Answer 3

the complete set of proteins that can be produced by a cell

Question 4

can we directly translate the genome into the proteome?

Answer 4

in simple organism = yes
complex = no = due to non-coding DNA and regulatory genes = harder to obtain proteome

Question 5

give an application of sequencing the proteome in simple organisms.

Answer 5

identifying potential antigens for use in vaccine production

Question 6

give some applications of genome sequencing.

Answer 6

• comparing genomes between species to determine evolutionary relationships
• genetic matching
  -personalised medicine
• synthetic biology

Question 7

how have sequencing methods changed over time?

Answer 7

• used to be a manual process
• now automated
• reaction mixture created and a machine reads the base sequence after the process is complete.

Question 8

What must you do to DNA before sequencing the entire genome of an organism?

Answer 8

Break the DNA into smaller fragments, as the gene sequencing methods only work on smaller sections of DNA.

Each fragment is sequenced and placed back to give the correct whole genome.