Genetics

Question 1

What is the definition of genetics?

Answer 1

The study of heredity (biological inheritance)

Gregor Mendel is known as the father of genetics.

Question 2

What does heredity refer to?

Answer 2

Things that are inherited/passed down from one generation to the next

Question 3

What are chromosomes?

Answer 3

The unit of heredity

Question 4

What are the bases of DNA?

Answer 4

A, T, G, C

Question 5

What are histones?

Answer 5

Proteins (8) packaging the DNA into nucleosomes

Question 6

What is chromatin composed of?

Answer 6

Nucleosomes + Proteins + RNA

Question 7

What is a chromosome?

Answer 7

A tightly packed long strand of DNA, complex with proteins and RNA that carries information

Question 8

What is a gene?

Answer 8

DNA sequence that encodes for a product (RNA or polypeptide)

Question 9

What does DNA code for?

Answer 9

RNA, which can be the final product or continue onto polypeptides

Question 10

What is an allele?

Answer 10

A variant of a gene

Question 11

What is a genome?

Answer 11

An organism’s entire set of DNA

Question 12

Which organelle houses the vast majority of a plant’s DNA?

Answer 12

Nucleus

Question 13

What is the size of the mitochondrial genome?

Answer 13

200-2000 kilobases (1 kilobase = 1,000 base pairs)

Question 14

What is the size of the chloroplast genome?

Answer 14

150 kilobases

Question 15

What does the diploid phase represent?

Answer 15

2 copies of each chromosome

Question 16

What is the frequency of haploid (n) chromosomes?

Answer 16

There are species that have more than 100 chromosomes

Question 17

Who is Gregor Mendel?

Answer 17

The ‘Father’ of genetics

Question 18

What were the observed traits in Mendel’s pea experiments?

Answer 18

Variation in pea colors year after year

Question 19

What is the wild type flower color in Mendel’s pea plants?

Answer 19

Purple and pink flowers

Question 20

What does the F1 generation represent in Mendel’s experiments?

Answer 20

Pink/purple flower from crossing of parental plants

Question 21

What is the phenotype ratio of the F2 generation?

Answer 21

3:1 pink/purple to white

Question 22

What is Mendel’s Law of Segregation?

Answer 22

1. Individuals pass along heritable factors through mating. 2. Each individual has two copies (alleles) of those factors. 3. Only one copy gets passed on through each gamete.

Question 23

What process does meiosis involve?

Answer 23

‘Recombination’ (random process)

Question 24

How do traits behave according to Mendel’s observations?

Answer 24

Phenotype determined by variation in one gene with two alleles: one dominant and one recessive

Question 25

What can control traits that are genetically complex?

Answer 25

Lots of genes regulating a particular phenotype

Question 26

What is necessary for understanding inheritance patterns?

Answer 26

Patterns of inheritance, what individual genes do, how genes and their products interact to yield particular phenotypes