Unit 8 - The control of gene expression Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

base addition

A

one or more nucleotide are inserted

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

base deletion

A

one or more nucleotide are deleted

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

base substitution

A

a nucleotide is replaced with another base

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

duplication mutation

A

one or more bases is repeated

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

inversion mutation

A

a sequence of bases is reversed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

translocation mutation

A

a sequence of bases is moved from one location to another

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

name the six types of base sequence mutations

A

addition, deletion, substitution, inversion, duplication, translocation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What is a mutagenic agent?

A

a factor that increases the rate of mutations

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What are the three types of mutagenic agent?

A
  • acts as a base
  • alters bases
  • change the structure of DNA
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What does a frameshift mutation do?

A

change the nature of all base triplets downstream from the mutation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What are the 4 types of stem cells?

A

totipotent, pluripotent, multipotent, unipotent

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Totipotent

A

can mature into any type of body cell, found in the first few cell divisions of embryo

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Pluripotent

A

can differentiate into any cell except placenta cells, found in embryo

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Multipotent

A

able to differentiate into a few different types of cells, found in mature mammals (bone marrow)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Unipotent

A

can only differentiate into one type of cell, found in mature mammals (cardiomyocytes)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

How can induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) be formed?

A

produced from adult somatic cells using appropriate protein transcription factors

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What are transcription factors?

A

Proteins that bind to promoter regions and control the transcription of genes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What happens after the transcription factor binds to the promoter region?

A

RNA polymerase can bind and allow transcription for that gene

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What is an activator?

A

Transcription factor that increases the rate of transcription.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What is a repressor?

A

Transcription factor that decreases the rate of transcription.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Describe how oestrogen activates transcription.

A

Oestrogen diffuses through membrane.
Binds to oestrogen receptor.
Oestrogen –oestrogen receptor diffuses from cytoplasm into the nucleus
Binds to promoter region of DNA.
Activates transcription.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Why are not all cells affected by oestrogen?

A

Not all cells have oestrogen receptor in cytoplasm.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

What is RNAi and what does it do? (basic)

A

RNA interference – blocks translation of mRNA at the ribosomes.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What does RNAi do?

A

complementary RNAi bind to the mRNA produced from a specific gene and prevent translation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

What are the two types of RNAi?

A

siRNA (small interference RNA)
miRNA (micro interference RNA)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

Epigenetics definition

A

Involves heritable changes in gene function without changes to the base sequence of DNA.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

What are the two ways epigenetic can be done?

A

Methylation of DNA
Acetylation of histones.

28
Q

What is methylation of DNA?

A

methyl group added to nitrogenous base

29
Q

What is acetylation of histones?

A

acetyl group added to histones

30
Q

What does an increased methylation of DNA do?

A

changes the DNA structure so that the transcription factors and RNA polymerase can’t interact with the gene, gene is not expressed

31
Q

What happens when histones are acetylated?

A

the chromatin is less condensed meaning transcription factors and RNA polymerase can access the DNA allowing genes to be transcribed

32
Q

What happens when acetyl groups are removed?

A

chromatin becomes highly condensed so that genes cannot be transcribed because the transcription factors and RNA polymerase can’t access them

33
Q

What genes control cell division?

A

tumour suppressor genes and oncogenes

34
Q

What are malignant tumours?

A

grow rapidly and invade and destroy surrounding tissues, cells can break off the tumours and spread to other parts of the body

35
Q

What are benign tumours?

A

grow slower and are often covered in fibrous tissue that stops cells invading other tissues

36
Q

How do tumour cells look different to normal cells?

A
  • nucleus is larger and darker
  • irregular shape
  • irregular shape
  • different antigens on their surface
  • divide more frequently
37
Q

What are stem cells?

A

undifferentiated cells that can continually divide and become specialised

38
Q

proto-oncogene

A

stimulates cell division by coding for proteins that make cells divide

39
Q

tumour suppressor gene

A

slows cell division by coding for proteins that stop cells dividing or causes apoptosis, repairs mistakes in DNA

40
Q

How do mutated oncogenes stimulate excessive cell division?

A

produce growth factors that activates genes that causes DNA to replicate and cell division

41
Q

What is hypermethylation?

A

increases methylation, occurs in promoter region of TSG, inactivation of TSG, transcription is inhibited

42
Q

What is hypomethylation?

A

decreases methylation in oncogenes, leads to their activation

43
Q

What is the main difference between proto-oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes?

A

Oncogenes cause cancer as a result of ACTIVATION of proto-oncogenes
Tumour suppressor genes cause cancer as a result of their INACTIVATION

44
Q

What are the two factors that increase the risk of cancer?

A

genetic and environmental

45
Q

What are the genetic risks of cancer?

A

inheriting alleles

46
Q

What are some environmental risks of cancer?

A

radiation, carcinogens, high fat diet, obesity, lack of physical activity

47
Q

How can you prevent cancer?

A

screen for the allele mutation, preventive steps, develop tests to detect mutations earlier

48
Q

How can you treat cancer?

A

drugs that inhibit mutated enzymes which stops growth of cells, drugs that bind to receptors preventing growth factors binding

49
Q

What is gene therapy?

A

faulty alleles are replaced by working versions of those alleles

50
Q

Genome

A

all the genetic material/ DNA in a cell/ organism

51
Q

How is DNA sequencing done?

A

a DNA sample is collected, many copies of the DNA are made, the copies are broken into many pieces, sequences are arranged in the correct order

52
Q

Advantages of medical screening

A

quick identification of potential
medical problems and for early
intervention treatment

53
Q

Proteome

A

Full range of different proteins that a cell is able to produce (at a given time)

54
Q

How could determining the genome of a virus allow scientists to develop a vaccine?

A

Identify proteins or proteome of the virus then identify potential antigens to use in the vaccine

55
Q

What does Recombinant DNA
technology involve?

A

the transfer of fragments of DNA from
one organism or species to another

56
Q

What are the 5 steps for producing DNA fragments?

A
  1. ISOLATION of DNA fragments (gene)
  2. INSERTION of DNA fragment into a
    vector
  3. TRANSFORMATION – DNA into host cells
  4. IDENTIFICATION of host cells (gene markers)
  5. GROWTH/CLONING of host cells
57
Q

What are the 3 methods for producing DNA fragments?

A

a. Conversion of mRNA to cDNA using
reverse transcriptase
b. Using restriction endonucleases to cut fragments (gene)
c. Creating the gene in a gene machine

58
Q

What are the three steps for PCR?

A
  • separation of DNA strands
  • annealing of primers
  • synthesis of DNA
59
Q

How are DNA strands separated in PCR?

A

high temperature of 95

60
Q

Describe the process of annealing primers in PCR?

A

55°C
primers anneal to their complementary bases at the ends of the DNA fragments

61
Q

What do the primers provide in PCR?

A

the starting sequence for the DNA polymerase to begin DNA replication

62
Q

Explain the synthesis of DNA in PCR?

A

72°C
Taq DNA polymerase joins adjacent nucleotides forming phosphodiester bond

63
Q

What is a DNA probe?

A

single strand of DNA bases complementary to an allele/ gene

64
Q

What are two types of genetic probe?

A

radioactive and fluorescent

65
Q

What is DNA hybridisation?

A

DNA probes bind with the target sequence