Deck 1: Introduction to Genetics

Question 1

What is a simple definition of an allele?

Answer 1

An allele is a variant form of a gene.

Question 2

Genetics is the study of ________.

A)heredity and variation
B)mutation and recession
C)transcription and translation
D)diploid and haploid
E)replication and recombination

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What is meant by the term gene?

Answer 3

a unit of inheritance

Question 4

Genetics is commonly grouped into several general areas: transmission,molecular,and population/evolution.Which biological processes are studied in transmission genetics?

Question 5

What term refers to the similarity between parents and offspring,and what term refers to the lack of similarity between parents and offspring?

Question 6

Name the individual who,while working with the garden pea in the mid-1850s,demonstrated quantitative patterns of heredity and developed a theory involving the behavior of hereditary factors.

Question 7

Name the substance that serves as the hereditary material in eukaryotes and prokaryotes.

Question 8

The genetic material DNA consists of basic subunits called ________.

A)mitochondria
B)lysosomes
C)centrioles
D)nucleotides
E)None of the answers listed is correct.

Question 9

What is a mutation?

Question 10

Many species have two representatives of each chromosome.In such species,the characteristic number of chromosomes is called the ________ number.It is usually symbolized as ________.

A)haploid; n
B)haploid; 2n
C)diploid; 2n
D)diploid; n
E)None of the answers listed is correct.

Question 11

What is the name of the company or institution that has access to the health,genealogical,and genetic information of approximately 270,000 residents of Iceland?

A)National Institutes of Health
B)deCODE
C)Gattaca
D)Biogen
E)American Cancer Society

Question 12

Until the mid-1940s,many scientists considered proteins to be the likely candidates for the genetic material.Why?

Question 13

Which theory postulates that an organism is derived from materials originally present in the egg that eventually differentiate into adult structures during development?

Question 14

The immediate product of transcription is ________.

A)a phospholipid
B)an amino acid
C)a protein
D)a carbohydrate
E)RNA

Question 15

Why did deCODE select Iceland for its ambitious research project?

A)a relatively low degree of genetic diversity
B)frequent and extensive mutational bursts
C)high genetic diversity
D)lack of genealogical information
E)virtual absence of mutation

Question 16

Name two individuals who provided the conceptual basis for our present understanding that genes are on chromosomes.

Question 17

What does the term genetics mean?

Question 18

What term is used to describe the fact that different genes in an organism often provide differences in observable features?

Question 19

Early in the twentieth century,Walter Sutton and Theodor Boveri noted that the behavior of chromosomes during meiosis is identical to the behavior of genes during gamete formation.They proposed that genes are carried on chromosomes,which led to the basis of the ________.

Question 20

A biotechnology company,deCODE,is in the process of creating a database that contains ________.

A)the gene sequences of all newborns in the United States beginning in 2006
B)a compilation of all the known genes in humans throughout the free world
C)health,genealogical,and genetic information of approximately 270,000 residents of Iceland
D)a complete sequence of the human genome
E)all the information available on the human genome project

Question 21

The various characteristics of organisms that result from their genetic makeup are collectively referred to as an organism's ________.

Question 22

In 1996,a cloning experiment produced the sheep named Dolly.Contrary to the more traditional method of cloning by embryo splitting,Dolly was produced by which procedure?

Question 23

Name the bases in DNA and their pairing specificities.

Question 24

Reference is often made to adapter molecules when describing protein synthesis in that they allow amino acids to associate with nucleic acids.To what class of molecules does this term refer?

Question 25

Distinguish the functions of DNA and RNA in a eukaryote.

Question 26

What is another term for a biological catalyst?

Question 27

What is meant by the term genetic code?

Question 28

What is the composition of the genetic material?

Question 29

Alternative forms of a gene are called ________.

Question 30

What is meant by the term genome?

Question 31

Name one of the botanists who,in 1900,rediscovered the work of Gregor Mendel.

Question 32

What is meant by the phrase the central dogma of molecular genetics?

Question 33

Compare and contrast nonenzymatic and enzymatic proteins.

Question 34

In nonviral systems,what is the nature of the hereditary substance?

Question 35

What is meant by complementation in terms of the structure of DNA?

Question 36

Given that DNA is the genetic material in prokaryotes and eukaryotes,what other general structures (macromolecules)and substances made by the cell are associated with the expression of that genetic material?

Question 37

Research dealing with which human blood disorder was instrumental in linking the genotype to a specific phenotype,and what conclusion was reached?

Question 38

List the two relatively complex processes in which genetic information is converted into functional products.

Question 39

Recombinant DNA technology is dependent on a particular class of enzymes,known as ________,that cuts DNA at specific nucleotide sequences.

Question 40

A fundamental property of DNA's nitrogenous bases that is necessary for the double-stranded nature of its structure is ________.

Question 41

What is the precise change in amino acid content between normal hemoglobin and sickle-cell hemoglobin?

Question 42

What was the purpose of genetically modifying the following plants: corn,soybeans,rice,cotton,sugar beets,and canola?

Question 43

Bioinformatics is a discipline involved in the development of hardware and software for processing,storing,and retrieving nucleotide and protein data.

Question 44

Organisms that are well understood from a scientific standpoint and are often used in basic biological research are called ________.

Question 45

What term is applied to a variety of projects whereby genome sequences are deposited in databases for research purposes?

Question 46

By 2003,the completed sequencing of the gene-containing portion of the human genome was published by two groups: the publicly funded ________ and a private company.

Question 47

Complementation in a genetic sense refers to the polymerization of nucleotides in DNA.

Question 48

Archeological evidence indicates that the earliest domestication of plants and animals occurred within the past 2000 years.

Question 49

A number of genomes have been sequenced in recent years: Escherichia coli,Saccharomyces cerevisiae,Caenorhabditis elegans,Drosophila melanogaster,and Mus musculus.What are the common names for these organisms?

Question 50

Who owns transgenic organisms?

Question 51

Arabidopsis is a model organism for the study of ________.

Question 52

Once produced,a transgenic plant or animal can be patented.

Question 53

According to Charles Darwin,animals and plants have remained unchanged since their appearance on Earth.

Question 54

Darwin's theory of evolution is based on the phenomenon of natural selection.