Lecture 1

Question 1

Are genes spliced in eukaryotes?

Answer 1

Yes, so exon’s are often spread out, with the introns (non-coding) are cut out for the coding material.

Question 2

ENCODE aims to…

Answer 2

Identify all functional elements of the human genome sequence - ~80% of the human genome has specific biological function.

Question 3

What is a gene, post-ENCODE?

Answer 3

Primary transcripts are spliced out of DNA to produce functional products. There may be four different genes encoding lots of different parts of one pathway.

Question 4

First generation sequencing:

Answer 4

SNGER: dideozxy sequencing. Each base is a band on a gel, worked out by hand.

Question 5

Second generation sequencing:

Answer 5

Multiple sequences are generated all at once, rapid generation of short random shotgun sequences (cDNA (from RNA) or genomic). eg) illumina.

Question 6

Third generation sequencing:

Answer 6

Able to sequence a human genome in 15 minutes: uses nanopores to deliver ultra long read lengths

Question 7

Model organisms…

Answer 7

• grow well in labs
• have fast life cycles
• mendelian genetics
• transformant systems
• genome sequenced
  eg) bacteria (E.coli, bacillyssubtilis), fungi (S.cerevisiae, A.nidulans, N.crassa), plants (Arabidopsis, rice, maize), multicellular animals ( C. elegans, drosophila, zebra fish, mouse/rat, humans!)