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Bio 131 Review for Genetics Lecture Exam Mrs. Kelly

Material to be covered on Lecture Exam

1.  Lecture notes.
2.  Assigned readings in the textbook. Know the key terms and key concepts at the end of each chapter. 

3.  Review questions. The list of questions on this page is intended to assist you in preparing for the lecture exam.  The list is not meant to have every possible question that might appear on the exam.  There will be questions on the lecture exam which are not on this list.  Answering these questions does not guarantee an A on the lecture exam.

DNA, RNA and Protein Synthesis 

1. Define gene
2. Define allele.
3. What is the difference between a gene and an allele?
4. What are the monomers of DNA and RNA?
5. What are the three parts of a nucleotide?
6. What is complementary base pairing?  Why is it important?
7. Which nitrogen bases are complementary with one another?
8. Describe the structure of DNA.
9. What is the function of DNA?
10. Describe how DNA replicates itself.
11. Why do we call the replication of DNA semiconservative?
12. What are the three ways in which RNA differs from DNA?
13. What are the three types of RNA?
14. What is the function of rRNA?
15. What is the function of tRNA?
16. What is the function of mRNA?
17. Where are proteins formed in the cell?
18. What is transcription?
19. Where does transcription occur in the cell?
20. What is the end product of transcription?
21. What is translation? 
22. How is translation different from transcription?
23. What is the end product of translation?
24. What is a codon and where would you find it?
25. What is an anticodon and where would you find it?
26. Explain the how the genetic code chart works.
27. What is the "Central Dogma"?
28. What are the monomers of a protein?
29. Why are proteins important in the cell?
30. If the sequence of bases on the sense strand of DNA is TACCGGACC, what is the base sequence of the antisense strand?
31. What is the sequence of the mRNA transcribed from the above sense strand?
32. Looking at the genetic code chart in the lab manual, what is the amino acid sequence specified by the above mRNA?
33. What kind of bond forms between the nitrogen bases in DNA?
34. Draw a diagram illustrating the relationship between DNA, RNA, and protein.
35. Why do scientists now think that RNA arose before DNA or protein?
36. Why is Stanley Miller's experiment important?
37. How did early life arise on Earth?

Mitosis

1. What is a chromosome?
2. What is a chromatid?
3. What is a sister chromatid?
4. What is the difference between an unreplicated chromosome and a replicated one?
5. What is a karyotype?
6. How many sets of chromosomes does a haploid organism have?  a diploid organism?
7. What are the haploid and diploid numbers in humans?
8. How is an autosome different from a sex chromosome?
9. How many autosomes does a person receive from their father?
10. How  many autosomes are present in a diploid human cell?
11. How many sex chromosomes are present in a diploid human cell?
12. Define homologous chromosome.
13. Why are the X and y chromosomes not homologous?
14. What is a somatic cell?
15. In what cells does mitosis occur?
16. What is the function of mitosis?
17. Why is interphase not part of mitosis?
18. What are the two things that are different between plant and animal mitosis?
19. In what phase of mitosis do the sister chromatids separate?
20.  What is the difference between the nucleus and the nucleolus?
21.  Explain the cell cycle.
22.  If a hamster had 40 chromosomes, how many chromatids would the cells have in the G₁ part of the cell cycle?  In the G₂ part of the cell cycle?
23.  Explain how cytokinesis in animal cells is different from cytokinesis in plant cells.

Meiosis

1. In what cells of the body does meiosis occur?
2. How is the function of meiosis different from that of mitosis?
3. List all the phases of meiosis and what significant event occurs in each stage.
4. Why do homologous chromosomes pair up in Prophase I ?
5. Describe crossing over.
6. What is the function of crossing over?
7. Do sister chromatids undergo crossing over?
8. In what phase of meiosis do the sister chromatids separate?
9. How many chromosomes are on a spindle fiber in Metaphase I?  Metaphase II?
10. If a cell had 18 chromosomes before meiosis, how many chromosomes would there be after meiosis?
11. List four ways in which meiosis differs from mitosis.
12. What is a gamete?
13. How is a gamete different from a somatic cell?
14. How many copies of an allele does each gamete receive?
15. Explain the process of spermatogenesis.
16. Explain the process of oogenesis.
17. Why are four sperm formed for every one egg ?
18. What is nondisjunction?
19. How does nondisjunction cause Down's syndrome?
20. How does nondisjunction cause Klinefelter’s syndrome and Turner’s syndrome?
21. What is translocation?

Mendelan Genetics

1. Explain Darwin's Theory of natural selection.
2. Who is Gregor Mendel?  Why is he famous?
3. What were Mendel’s conclusions from his crosses with pea plants?
4. What are Mendel’s two laws?
5. How is the homozygous condition different from the heterozygous condition?
6. What does it mean to say that an allele is dominant?
7. What does it mean to say that an allele is recessive?
8. How would you determine which allele is dominant and which is recessive?
9. What is a phenotype?
10. What is a genotype?
11. How is phenotype different from genotype?
12. How many genes are involved in a monohybrid cross?
13. How is sex-linked inheritance different from autosomal inheritance?
14. Explain Medel’s law of segregation.
15. Explain Mendel’s law of independent assortment.
16. If you crossed a plant homozygous dominant for wrinkled seeds with a plant homozygous recessive for smooth seeds, what genotypes would the F1 have?
17. A plant heterozygous for tall is crossed with a plant homozygous recessive for short. What are the genotypic and phenotypic ratios of the offspring?
18. Which chromosome contains the gene for hemophilia and the gene for color-blindness?
19. How could a woman be a hemophiliac if her mother was not?
20. What kind of children could a couple expect if the mother is a carrier of hemophilia and the father has normal blood clotting?
21. A normal-sighted woman whose mother has normal vision but whose father is color-blind marries a color-blind man.  Color-blindness is sex-linked.  What are the chances that a son will be color-blind?  A daughter?
22. Freckles are dominant over no freckles.  A woman heterozygous for freckles marries a man who is also heterozygous.  What is the phenotypic ratio for their children?

Non-mendelian Genetics

1. Why is the ABO blood group an example of multiple alleles and an example of codominance?
2. Gloria Stardust, the movie queen, has claimed that Rex Butler is the father of her baby, Marvella, a fact that Rex stoutly denies.  Gloria has type A blood, Marvella has type O and Rex is type AB.  Could Rex possibly be the father of Marvella?
3. Explain how a man with blood type A and a woman with blood type B can have a child with blood type O.
4. Why is blood type O the universal donor?
5. Why is blood type AB the universal recipient?
6. How is an antigen different from an antibody?
7. Explain what antigen and what antibody each blood group has.
8. Explain what blood types are compatible and which are incompatible for transfusions.
9. What is polygenic inheritance?
10. Why are eye and skin color examples of polygenic inheritance?
11. Why are siamese cats an example of environmental effects of gene expression?

Evolution

1. What is a theory?
2. What is the Theory of evolution?
3. What are the six main pieces of evidence for evolutiion?
4. What is it that evolves?
5. What is the difference between microevolution and macroevolution?
6. What are the 5 mechanisms of evolution?  Explain how each one works.
7. How is natural selection different from mutation?
8. How does natural selection bring about antibiotic resistance in bacteria?
9. Are humans more highly evolved than bacteria?
10. What is the red queen effect?
11. What are the three forms of speciation?  Explain how each one works.

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