Question | Answer |
1.What is DNA? | deoxyribonucleic acid - a self-replicating material which is present in nearly all living organisms as the main constituent of chromosomes. It is the carrier of genetic information.
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2.What are genes? | a unit of heredity which is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring.
| 3.What are chromosomes? | a thread-like structure of nucleic acids and protein found in the nucleus of most living cells, carrying genetic information in the form of genes.
| 4.Rewrite 1:4 as a percent | 25%
| 5.Write a sentence explaining the relationship between the words DNA, genes, and chromosomes. | chromosomes contain genes which are made from DNA
| 6.Name three examples of genetic traits that you inherited from your parents. | various
| 7.Name two traits that you acquire during your life. | a physical characteristic that is not inherited but may be an effect of the environment or of a somatic mutation.
| 8.You have a 3 in 4 chance of inheriting a trait. Express this mathematically in 3 different ways. | 3/4 or 75% or 0.75.
| 9.How are traits passed from parent to their offspring? | Fertilization of egg (haploid from mom haploid from dad = diploid child) - Meiosis
| 10.How many chromosomes do humans have? | 46 chromosomes and 23 chromosome pairs
| 11.Why is Gregor Mendel considered to be the “Father of Genetics”? | through his work on pea plants, discovered the fundamental laws of inheritance? He deduced that genes come in pairs and are inherited as distinct units, one from each parent
| 12.The diameter of the nucleus of a cell is approximately 1/100,000 of a meter. The diameter of Earth is 12,756,000 meters. Write each of these in scientific notation. | 1.00 X10 -5 and 1.28 X107.
| 13.What is the difference between a dominant trait and a recessive trait? | A dominant trait (strong) is opposed to a recessive trait (weak) which is expressed only when two copies of the gene are present. (In genetic terms, a recessive trait is one that is phenotypically expressed only in homozygotes).
| 14.What is an example of a dominant human trait? | Various answers: dark hair, brown eyes, free earlobe, dimples, etc.
| 15.What is an example of a recessive human trait? | Various answers: light hair, blue eyes, attached earlobe, no dimples, etc.
| 16.Give an example of a genetic disease. | Various answers: down syndrome, colour blindness, CF, sickle cell disease, etc.
| 17.What is the purpose of a Punnett square? | The Punnett square is a diagram that is used to predict an outcome of a particular cross or breeding experiment.
| 18.If a tall plant (TT genotype) is crossed with a dwarf plant (tt genotype), what is the probability that the offspring plants would be tall? | 100%.
| 19.How many daughter cells are produced during meiosis? | 4.
| 20.What is an autosome? | All 22 pairs of chromosomes that do not code for the sex of an organism
| 21.What is a homologous chromosome? | a pair of chromosomes (1 from mom and 1 from dad) that code for the same genes (same-same, but different)
| 22.What is crossing over? | During prophase 1, homologous pairs form a tetrad and genetic information is swapped amongst pairs
| 23.What are the phases of Meiosis? | Prophase I, Metaphase I, Anaphase I, Telophase I, Cytokinesis, Prophase II, Metaphase II, Anaphase II, Telophase II, Cytokinesis
| 24.What is oogenesis? | Production of female gametes (eggs/ova)
| 25.What is the purpose of a pedigree? | Family history of disease |