Molecular ecology 2 Flashcards
DNA replication
It is semi-conservative and starts with RNA primers
How many genomes do we have?
TWO
The nuclear genome and the mitochondrial genome
How big is our nuclear genome?
roughly 3 billion
Do small organisms have smaller genomes?
No there is no direct correlation between the size of the organism and the amount of genome
How many genes do we have in the nuclear DNA?
roughly 20000-25000
How big is our mitochondrial DNA
37
What are the non-protein coding genes at the end and beginning of the sequences?
start= Promoter +untranslated UTR+start codon
end=stop codon +UTR+ terminator
Are there more and less conserved sequences in the DNA?
vital function genes: highly conserved through time so change is very slow
non-vital function genes: less conserved through time.
There are also non-coding regions: not conserved through time
Which marker of the DNA do we need to focus on if we want find the species (cod)?
To figure out the species of fish we use cytochrome c
Describe Restriction enzymes?
- “molecular scissors”
- originally isolated from bacterial cell (“immune system”)
- cut a very specific sequence (often palindromic)
- often named from the bacteria (genus, species, strain) they were first isolated from* e.g.
- EcoRI from Escherichia coli, cuts 5’-G|AATTC-3’
- MboII from Moraxella bovis, cuts 5’-GAAGA(N)8-3’
cuts 8 bases down from this sequence
What is palindromic?
A sequence that reads the same backwards as forwards.
What needs to be present with restriction enzymes?
- PCR product
- Restriction enzyme
- Restriction buffer
What is the expected result when doing an agarose gel ?
Different species have different DNA sequences of the MT-CYB region (including restriction sites). Each species will
produce a different profile of fragments which will in turn produce a different ‘banding pattern’ on an agarose gel.
