8.3 Using Genome Projects

Question 1

What is the genome?

Answer 1

The complete set of genetic information contained in the cells of an organism

Question 2

What is genome sequencing?

Answer 2

Identifying the DNA base sequence and therefore the amino acid sequence of an individual

Question 3

What is the proteome?

Answer 3

The complete set of proteins that can be produced by a cell

Question 4

Can the genome be directly translated into the proteome?

Answer 4

Only in simple organisms
Complex organisms have non-coding DNA and regulatory genes

Question 5

Give an application of sequencing the proteome in simple organisms.

Answer 5

Identifying potential antigens for use in vaccine production

Question 6

Give some applications of genome sequencing.

Answer 6

Comparing genomes between species to determine evolutionary relationships
Genetic matching
Personalised medicine
Synthetic biology

Question 7

How have sequencing methods changed over time?

Answer 7

Used to be a manual process, now automated
A reaction mixture is created and the base sequence is read by a machine