WEEK 3

Question 1

Adoption study

Answer 1

A behaviour genetic research method that involves comparison of adopted children to their adoptive and biological parents

Question 2

Behavioural genetics

Answer 2

The empirical science of how genes and environments combine to generate behaviour.

Question 3

Heritability coefficient

Answer 3

An easily misinterpreted statistical construct the purports to measure the role of genetics in the explanation of differences among individuals.

Question 4

Quantitative genetics

Answer 4

Scientific and mathematical methods for inferring genetic and environmental processes based on the degree of genetic and environmental similarity among organisms.

Question 5

Twin stipules

Answer 5

A behaviour genetic research method that involves comparison to the similarity of identical (monozygotic) and fraternal (dizygotic) twins.

Question 6

Adaptations

Answer 6

Evolved solution to problems that historically contributed to reproductive success.

Question 7

Error management theory (EMT)

Answer 7

A theory of selection under conditions of uncertainty in which recurrent cost asymmetries of judgement or inference favour the evolution of adaptive cognitive biases that function to minimize the more costly errors.

Question 8

Evolution

Answer 8

Change over time

Question 9

Gene selection theory

Answer 9

The modern theory of evolution by selection by which differential gene replication is the defining process of evolutionary change.

Question 10

Intersexual selection

Answer 10

A process of sexual selection by which evolution occurs as a consequence of the mate preferences of one sex exerting selection pressure on members of the opposite sex.

Question 11

Intrasexual competition

Answer 11

A process of sexual selection by which members of one sex compete with each other, and the victors gain preferential mating access to members of the opposite sex.

Question 12

Natural selection

Answer 12

Differential reproductive success as a consequence of differences in heritable attributes.

Question 13

Psychological adaptations

Answer 13

Mechanisms of the mind that evolved to solve specific problems of survival or reproduction; conceptualized as information processing devices.

Question 14

Sexual selection

Answer 14

The evolution of characteristics because of the mating advantage they give organisms.

Question 15

Sexual strategies theory

Answer 15

A comprehensive evolutionary theory of human mating that defines the menu of mating strategies humans pursue, the adaptive problems women and men face when pursuing these strategies, and the evolved solutions to these mating problems.

Question 16

DNA methylation

Answer 16

Covalent modifications of mammalian DNA occurring via the methylation of cytosine, typically in the context of CpG dinucleotide.

Question 17

DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs)

Answer 17

Enzymes that establish and maintain DNA methylation using methyl-group donor compounds or cofactors, The main mammalian DNMTs are DNMT1m which maintains methylation state across DNA replication, and DNMT3a and DNMT3b, which perform de novo methylation.

Question 18

Epigenetics

Answer 18

The study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence. Epigenetic marks include covalent DNA modifications and post translational histone modifications.

Question 19

Epigenome

Answer 19

The genome-wide distribution of epigenetic marks.

Question 20

Gene

Answer 20

A specific deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence that codes for a specific polypeptide to protein or an observable inherited trait.

Question 21

Genome-wide association study (GWAS)

Answer 21

A study that maps DNA polymorphisms in affected individuals and controls matched for age, sex, and ethnic background with the aim of identifying casual genetic variants.

Question 22

Genotype

Answer 22

The DNA content of a cell’s nucleus, whether a trait is externally observable or not.

Question 23

His tone acetyltranferases (HATs) and his tone deacetylases (HDACs)

Answer 23

HATs are enzymes that transfer acetyl groups to specific positions on histone tails, promoting an “open” chromatic state and transcriptional activation. HDACs remove these acetyl groups, resulting in a “closed” chromatin state and transcriptional repression.

Question 24

Histone modifications

Answer 24

Posttranslational modifications of the N-terminal “tails” of histone proteins that serve as a major mode of epigenetics regulation. These modifications include acetylation, phosphorylation, methylation, sumoylation, ubiquitination, and ADP-ribosylation.

Question 25

Identical twins

Answer 25

Two individual organisms that originated from the same zygote and therefore or genetically identical or very similar. The epigientic profiling of identical twins discordant for disease is a unique experimental design as it eliminates the DNA sequence-, age-, and sex-differences from consideration.

Question 26

Phenotype

Answer 26

The pattern of expression of the genotype or the magnitude or extent to which it is observable expressed - an observable characteristic or trait of an organism, such as its morphology, development, biochemical, or physiological properties, or behaviour.