Science Flashcards
(257 cards)
What is variation?
the differences that occur between different species and within the same species
What is variation caused by?
genetics and the environment
What are inherited variations?
these are inherited characteristics from parents e.g. facial features, height, hair colour, eye colour
What are environmental variations?
traits that are influenced by the environment e.g. hair length, language, strength
Do you think skin colour is an inherited or environmental characteristic?
Both - a child will have similar skin colour to its parents, but it can change with sun exposure
What are the 4 features that are truly inherited (and not affected by the environment)?
natural eye colour
natural hair colour
blood group
inherited disease
Most features are caused by both inherited and environmental factors, true or false?
True
What is continuous variation?
a feature that can take on any value in a range e.g. height can be anything from the smallest human possible to the tallest human possible
What is discontinuous variation?
a feature that can only have certain values e.g. eye colour can only be brown. blue or green. Another example is blood type
True or false - identical twins are genetically identical
True - identical twins come from a single egg and sperm
Do non-identical twins come from the same egg?
No - they come from 2 separate eggs fertilized by different sperm
What makes organisms different from each other?
DNA - DNA is unique to that organism. Except for identical twins, they have identical DNA
Where is DNA located?
at the nucleus of cells and they are tightly coiled into packages called chromosomes
What is a gene?
a particular section of DNA
How many chromosomes do humans have?
most human body cells contain 46 chromosomes - they are matched up as 23 pairs
Who do people inherit chromosomes from?
half from mother, half from father
What does a gene control?
separate characteristics e.g. eye colour
What do proteins do?
they perform many roles in the body
What type of protein forms cells and tissues?
Structural protein
What type of protein carries out reactions in the body?
functional proteins
Give 2 examples of structural proteins
collagen (found in many human tissues)
cellulose (found in plant cells)
Give an example of a functional protein
Enzymes
What do enzymes do?
they catalyze (cause) reactions
We may look similar to our parents, but our characteristics will not be exactly the same. Why?
- Because when sex cells are produced (gametes), genes are swapped between the chromosomes so that they are not the same as the parent cell
- At fertilisation, any sperm could fuse with the egg, mixing the genes from both parents