World of Genomics Flashcards
What are the two types of grooves in dna?
Major grooves and minor grooves.
What bonds are between the bases holding the two dna strands together?
hydrogen bonds
What bonds are between bases on a single strand of DNA?
strong covalent bonds.
This means the dna strands can be melted and annealed back together. This is done in PCR.
What is DNA?
DNA is a polymer of nucleotides consisting of adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanidine (G) and thymine (T)
DNA molecules are…
…double-stranded and the two strands ‘pair’ together with complementary sequences forming the pairs
How can we sequence DNA?
using dideoxynucleotides we can sequence DNA using the chain termination method
the use of robotics has automated this so that millions of base pairs can be analysed per day
What has sequencing dna led to?
we have access to large amounts of DNA sequence – primary data
how does information flow in the cell?
information flows from DNA in the genome to RNA in the gene transcript to protein which is generally the functional end of information flow
What sources do we get primary data from?
We can get primary data then from three sources:
1 – the DNA sequence itself – sequencing genes - the genome
2 – the mRNA – the transcriptome
3 – proteins – via protein sequencing – the proteome
What is the Transcriptome?
the sum total of all transcripts in a cell/organism/tissue/organ.
What is the proteome?
the sum total of all proteins in a cell, organism, tissue, or organ.
DNA is transcripted to…
…DNA transcriped to mrna which is translated to rna and proteins.
Data from genome sequencing is converted into…
…text containing strings of
A, C, G and T
In genome sequences/sequencing, what is the main thing we are concerned with?
It is the order of the letters (A,C,G,T) that we are concerned about here
Where is data generated from genome sequencing projects deposited?
the data generated from genome sequencing projects is deposited in databases which can be ‘searched’ by users of the database
One of the main key points of modern genomics is…
…studying gene expression.
Eahc cells contain the same genes but…
…differ by which genes are turned on or off. This causes cell differentiation.
Knowing the sequence does not…
…tell us alot
why do we need to study gene expression?
- Studying gene expression allows us to understand what particular genes encode and what they do.
- If you can understand what cells have the genes turned on or off, you can deduce what the gene does.
- For example, if a gene is only turned on in brain tissue, it is likely to be a gene to do with the brain.
In cells, some genes will be…
…transcribed and others turned off
Some genes will have high expression, and some will…
…be expressed at low levels.
Describe differential gene expression.
- Some genes transcribed, some not transcribed. (turned on or turned off)
- Some genes having high levels of expression, some genes having low levels of expression.
It is differential gene expression which defines each cell in terms of:
1 – it’s particular function
2 – it’s developmental stage
3 – the response to environmental cues
4 – it’s genotype (wildtype or mutant)
What is qualtiative?
On or off
Describe how development state/stage changed expression.
During develpotment of red blood cells, when immature, particular genes are on, when mature, particular genes are off. Development state changes expression.
Whats an example of how we can study gene expression?
studying gene expression using northern blotting
WHat is northern blotting?
When people invented a way to detect rna, they called it a northern blot. This is used to determine RNA levels/molecules of a gene.
What is a southern blot?
first person to develop a way to detect dna molecules by radial dna was guy called ed southern. This plot was called a southern blot
Whats a western plot?
When people invented a way to detect proteins, they called it a western blot.
Why would we want to study gene expression?
imagine we have a gene that we are interested in and we want to know which tissues it is expressed in (i.e. we want to know about its regulation)
one way that we can do this is to use a technique which examines the quantity of mRNA molecules from that gene in different tissues
Describe studying gene expression.
we can isolate RNA molecules
we can separate them with gel electrophoresis
we can then identify them on a gel
How does gel electrophoresis work?
In gel electrophersis, dna separate out according to molecular weight when an electrical current is run through it, because the negative charge of the dna is attracted to the positive charge of the current.
Why do we use northern blots instead of gel electrophoresis when studying gene expression?
Gel electrophoresis does not tell us a lot on its own since we cannot distinguish the different dna. This is where northern blots are used.
Describe northern blots.
RNA is transferred to a nylon or nitrocellulose membrane
specific RNA molecules can be detected by hybridisation as long as you have a DNA probe that is detectable
it is detectable if labelled with radioactive nucleotides or labelled with a molecule that can be detected by antibodies
what is the purpose of the β-tubulin lane in northern blots?
works on cytoskeleton microtubules.