What does the Genome tell us about being Human

Question 1

What is comparative genomics?

Answer 1

Used to discover what is in common and what is different
Things in common are conserved and may encode biology in common between species
Things that are different may encode organism specific biology

Question 2

How do you compare sequences?

Answer 2

By lining them up next to each other and marking each point where sequences are the same - ‘aligning’

Question 3

What may be some differences in genomes within species?

Answer 3

Disease
Characteristics
Evolutionary history

Question 4

What could we learn about an organism if we compare its genome with others?

Answer 4

What sort of genes they have
How differences between species arise
Relationships between species

Question 5

What is the closest relative to humans?

Answer 5

Neanderthals
Lived 130,000-30,000 years ago
Neanderthal DNA still exists in some peoples genomes

Question 6

What does genome sequencing tell us?

Answer 6

Who we are and where we came from
Evolutionary history
Variants related to the biology of an organism