Intro-Ch1-P1-9

Question 1

Albinism is caused how?

Answer 1

Is caused by a defect in one of the enzymes required to produce melanin, the pigment that darkens our skin, hair and eyes.

Question 2

What native American tribe has a high rate of albinism? and what is the rate compared to the population?

Answer 2

The Hopi tribe and their rate of albinism is 1 in 200 compared to the population rate of 1 in 20,000 people.

Question 3

What is the Green Revolution?

Answer 3

The increase in world food production that occurred during the 1950s and 1960s.

Question 4

Genes?

Answer 4

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is widely accepted by the scientific community as a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a polypeptide or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism, though there still are controversies about what plays the role of the genetic material.

Question 5

Genome

Answer 5

A complete set of genetic instructions for any organism and all genomes are encoded in nucleic acids - either DNA or RNA.

Question 6

When did first life commence on Earth?

Answer 6

3.5 to 4.0 billion years ago.

Question 7

What is Heredity?

Answer 7

It is the passing of traits to offspring (from its parent or ancestors).

Question 8

Genetics contributes to advances in

Answer 8

agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and medicine and is fundamental to modern biology.

Question 9

Name some implications of all organisms having similar genetic systems?

Answer 9

• All life forms are genetically related.
• Research findings on one organism’s gene function can often be applied to other organisms.
• Genes from one organism can often exist and thrive in another organism.

Question 10

Genetic transmission?

Answer 10

is the transfer of genetic information from genes to another generation (from parent to offspring)

Question 11

Molecular genetics?

Answer 11

Studies the structure and function of genes at a molecular level - the gene itself; how genetic information is encoded, replicated, and expressed.

Question 12

Population genetics?

Answer 12

Explores genetic composition of groups of individual members of the same species (populations) and how that composition changes geographically and with the passage of time. Because evolution is genetic change population genetics is fundamentally the study of evolution.

Question 13

What are “Model Genetic Organisms”?

Answer 13

Organisms that have characteristics that make them particularly useful for genetic analysis and which have a large amount of genetic information already accumulated.

Question 14

Name six “Model Genetic Organisms”

Answer 14

• Fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster)
• Escherichia coli - a bacterium present in the gut of humans and animals.
• Nematode worm (Caenorhabditis elegans)
• Thale-cress plant (Arabidopsis thaliana)
• House mouse (Mus musculus)
• Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)

These species are organisms of choice for many genetic researchers and their genomes were sequenced as a part of the Human Genome Project.

Question 15

Human Genome Project?

Answer 15

is an international scientific research project with a primary goal of determining the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA, and of identifying and mapping the approximately 20,000–25,000 genes of the human genome from both a physical and functional standpoint.

Question 16

What other species are frequently subjects of genetic research and are considered genetic models?

Answer 16

• Bread mould (Neurospora crassa)
• Corn (Zea Mays)
• Zebrafish (danio rerio)
• Clawed frog (xenopus laevis)

Question 17

What is pangenesis?

Answer 17

Specific particles, later called gemmules, carry information from various parts of the body to the reproductive organs where they are passed to the embryo at the moment of conception.
Developed by Greek philosophers, was highly influential, and persisted until the late 1800s. Darwin pushed this idea.

Question 18

What is “inheritance of acquired characteristics”?

Answer 18

Traits acquired during lifetime become part of person’s hereditary information and are passed onto offspring. Proven to be not true.

Question 19

When did Robert Hooke discover cells?

Answer 19

1665

Question 20

What is preformationism?

Answer 20

Inside the egg or sperm exists a fully formed miniature adult (homunculus) which enlarges during development. This meant that traits were inherited from just male or female but not both. Not true.

Question 21

What is “blending inheritance”?

Answer 21

That offspring are a blend, or mixture, of parental traits. Not true.

Question 22

Nucleic acid?

Answer 22

Are large biological molecules essential for all known forms of life. They include DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid). Together with proteins, nucleic acids are the most important biological macromolecules; each is found in abundance in all living things, where they function in encoding, transmitting and expressing genetic information.

Question 23

DNA?

Answer 23

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a molecule encoding the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and many viruses. Along with RNA and proteins, DNA is one of the three major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life.

Question 24

RNA?

Answer 24

Ribonucleic acid is a ubiquitous family of large biological molecules that perform multiple vital roles in the coding, decoding, regulation, and expression of genes. Together with DNA, RNA comprises the nucleic acids, which, along with proteins, constitute the three major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life. Like DNA, RNA is assembled as a chain of nucleotides, but is usually single-stranded.

Question 25

What did English plant anatomist and physiologist, Nehemiah Grew, discover?

Answer 25

That plants reproduce sexually by using pollen from the male sex cells. Discovered this in 1676.

Question 26

Who discovered the basic principles of heredity?

Answer 26

Gregor Mendel