1.2 - Intro to molecular biology Flashcards
What is molecular biology?
- The study of essential cell macromolecules
What are some areas of molecular biology?
- Forensic DNA analysis
- Genetic diseases
- Cancer therapies
- Crop/livestock improvement
- Ecology
- Evolution
What is the connection to evolution and molecular biology?
- explains variation (mutations) in the population
- allows for different abilities to survive
Who were the 3/4 people that laid the foundations for genetics?
- Darwin/Wallace - explained variation/fitness and how organisms are related
- Mendel - explained the fundamental principles of inheritance
- Morgan - explained how genes are arranged on chromosomes
What were the 3 groups that proved that DNA was genetic material?
- Fred Griffith
- Avery, MacLeod and McCarty
- Hershey and Chase
What was Griffith’s experiment?
What was Avery, MacLeod and McCarty’s experiment?
What was Hershey and Chase’s experiment?
What is the genetic material of eukaryotic cells?
DNA can be used to introduce new genetic traits into animal cells or whole animals.
Blank – In eukaryotic cells, the acquisition of new genetic markers by incorporation of added DNA.
Define the following words; chromosome, gene, structural gene, regulatory gene
- A discrete unit of the genome carrying many genes.
- Each chromosome consists of a very long molecule of duplex DNA and an approximately equal mass of proteins, and is visible as a morphological entity only during cell division. - A sequence of DNA that encodes a discrete function
- Gene that encodes for amino acid sequence of a protein (as an enzyme) or for a rRNA or tRNA
- Gene involved in controlling the expression of one or more other genes
Define the following gene forms; allele, locus, genetic recombination
- Specific variation of a gene
- The position on a chromosome at which the gene for a particular trait resides - may have >1 allele
- A process by which separate DNA molecules are joined into a single molecule
