Biology: Mutations

Question 1

What is a gene (old definittion)

Answer 1

a unit of heredity that is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring

Question 2

what is a gene new definition

Answer 2

a region of DNA that is transcribed into RNA

Question 3

types of point mutations

Answer 3

silent mutations - same amino acid inserted, no net effect

missense mutations - changes animo acid inserted

nonsense mutations - changes to stop codon

Question 4

what are structural mutations

Answer 4

genetic mutations that affect >50 bp are called structural mutations

Question 5

types of structural mutations

Answer 5

A copy number variation (CNV) refers to differences in the number of copies of a particular genetic region

Can be the result of loss of DNA via deletion, or gain of DNA via insertion or duplication

Entire chromosome segments can be inverted (inversions) or transferred between chromosomes (reciprocal
translocations)

Question 6

is too much variation good

Answer 6

no, its harmful to an individual with a greatly altered genome