Unit 1 Topic 11 - Genomic Sequencing

Question 1

State that genomic sequencing is the analysis of the sequence of bases make up the entire genome of an organism

Question 2

Explain the term “bioinformatics”

Answer 2

This is the use of computers and statistical analysis to compare sequence data

Question 3

Explain the term “comparitive genomics”

Answer 3

This involves comparing the genomes of members of the same of different species to look for similarities or differences in base sequences.

Question 4

State that many genes are highly conserved across different organisms

Question 5

Explain how phylogenetics can be used to show how closely related groups of organisms are to each other (phylogenetic trees)

Answer 5

• the more different the base sequences of two genomes, the more distantly related the two groups of organisms.
• the more similar the base sequence, the more closely related the two organisms.

Question 6

Explain how molecular clocks are used to determine the sequence in which species evolved

Answer 6

DNA sequences undergo mutations at a constant rate over time. Therefore the number of mutations per million years can be used.
Base sequence divergence is used to estimate the time since lineages diverged

Question 7

List the three domains of life

Answer 7

1. Bacteria
2. Archaea
3. Eukaryotes