Exam 1

Authors
See Also
Textbook
Reading Time
6 minute(s)
Word Count
1111 words

Table of Contents

Ancestors

Siblings

Lecture 1 - Cell Cycle

Resources: Chapters 1-2 the textbook glossary, index, the syllabus, canvas, and lab!

Vocabulary

  • Chromosome, locus, gene, allele, mutants of genes
    • Alleles are variants of a gene.
  • Genome, karyotype, idiogram, banding, centromere position (names)
  • Prokaryote, eukaryote
  • Sister chromatids — note these are "identical copies" and chromatid is not "chromosome"
  • Telomere, centromere, kinetochore, tubulin
  • Diploid, haploid, 2n, 1n, gamete cell, somatic cell
  • Heterozygote, homozygote, dominant, recessive
  • P-MAT or PpMAT, meiosis-I, meiosis-II
  • Prophase, Prometaphase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase, Cytokinesis

General

  1. What are the three traditional disciplines in the study of Genetics?
  2. Name 3 model organisms used in Genetics, and what type of biology are they used to model (see textbook appendix)!
    • Drosophilia (fruit flies) can model alzheimers and diabetes.
    • C. elegans can model parkinsons and diabetes.
    • Ants can model evolutionary genetics through the homologous HOX genes.
  3. Name 3 differences in the DNA of prokaryotes v. eukaryote cells.
    • Prokaryotic DNA is a double stranded circle.
    • Prokaryotic DNA exists in the cytoplasm. Eukaryotic DNA exists in a protected nucleus.
  4. Why is DNA packing so important in eukaryotes?
  5. What cells go through the Cell Cycle (Eukaryotes or Prokaryotes?)
  6. What does homologous mean when we talk about genes - how do we determine if genes are homologous - what do we need to compare?
  7. What is the normal time it takes for a cell to complete one cell cycle? Is there a universal 'normal' time?
  8. What is the name of the stage of the cell cycle that deals specifically with nuclear division in growing cell populations?

Cell Cycle

  1. List the 3 stages of interphase and the major events that take place in each stage.
  2. What is the "resting" (quiescent) stage? Name examples of cells, or biological structures, that have exited the cell cycle, but are not dead?
  3. Know the stages of the Cell cycle (G1, S, G2, M and G0)
  4. What are the major cell cycle check points? What do they "check", when do they happen?
  5. What is cytokinesis, explain the differences in cytokinesis, animals v. plants.
  6. What happens at the Restriction Point in the cell cycle? What proteins are involved in the transition between G1/S?
  7. Know what the chromosomes look like in G1, G2, and the phases of PMAT of Mitosis: are they replicated or not? Are they unpacked like a mess of spaghetti, and when are they compacted into little "X" shapes? Is that shape a G1 or G2/M chromosome?
  8. Know the essential structural elements of eukaryotic chromosome: (what is a CEN, kinetochore, what is a CEN)?
  9. Know the three ways you can identify chromosomes in a karyotype.
  10. What are microtubules made of? Why do they interact with the CENs, what function do they serve?
  11. In what sub-phase of Mitosis (M-phase) are the microtubules growing? In what sub-phase are they shrinking.
  12. Explain how Rb, CDK kinase, cyclin function to determine whether a cell divides. What does Rb stand for, and what happens in the disease?
  13. What is cancer? Does it usually arise from a single mutation? What a Tumor Suppressor?
  14. What are "beads on a string" - what are the "beads" what is the string?
  15. What are nucleosomes made of?
  16. By what factor does DNA get packed, in order to fit into a nucleus?

Lecture 2 - Mitosis

Resources: Chapters 1-2 the textbook glossary, index, syllabus, canvas, and lab!

Mitosis

  1. When does mitosis begin in an organism; when does it end?
  2. How do we know that chromosomes does not correlate with complexity? Go here: and tell me how many chromosomes are in the genome of your favorite animal, along with its common name and its genus + species. Note: those are diploid chromosome counts. What is your favorite organism with a lot of chromosome, and is your favorite organism with very few chromosomes - this will be a discussion on canvas - for points/credit. :)
    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_organisms_by_chromosome_count
  3. A chromosome in G2 of cell cycle looks like two chromosomes, but it is not. It is a single chromosome in the replicated state! How can you tell the difference? What structures do you count, to count chromosomes?
  4. What is the difference between a Locus and an Allele? For a gene, there may be many alleles in the population - what's defines the 'wildtype', and what defines 'mutant'?
  5. What is the difference between a karyotype and an idiogram (this reviews from lecture 1 slide 27)? How do we identify the chromosomes under the microscopes?
  6. Why do metaphase chromosomes (which are the ones we look at in a karyotype) look like an "X"?
  7. What does 'heterozygote' mean?
  8. List 5 subphases of M-phase mitosis: what comes before M-phase, what comes after it?
  9. Know what happens to the DNA in all 5 stages of Mitosis.
  10. Where is the kinetochore and why is it so important? What is its purpose?
  11. What is a microtubule, how is it related to the mitotic spindle, how does it lengthen/shorten, when in Mitosis does it lengthen/shorten. What happens when there are errors in these functions?
  12. What is the MTOC, what is the other name for it?
  13. What is cytokinesis, and how is it different in animals v. plants?
  14. 46, XX means what? 46, XY means what?
  15. Define aneuploidy.
  16. What is it called when a chromosome does not split properly in mitosis anaphase?
  17. If the mitotic spindle is not formed correctly, what can result? Name one human disorder is caused by this - name the disorder, what chromosome is affected, and how is that karyotype/genotype written?
  18. What does diploid mean? How many copies of each gene does a diploid carry?
  19. What is a metaphase plate?
  20. You are examining human chromosomes 2, 7, 22, X and Y ... which is largest, which is smallest? Which are autosomes, which are sex chromosomes?
  21. Diploid cells in a bug have 10 chromosomes in each nucleus. Tell me what is the 2n number, what is the 1n number, and how many chromosomes vs. sister-chromatids are found in that cell at each stage: G1, S, G2, Prophase, Prometaphase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase.
  22. Know where the chromosome sits on these 4 types of chromosomes: Metacentric, Submetacentric, Acrocentric, Telocentric.
  23. For a heterozygote gene B (Bb genotype) draw the homologous pair of chromosomes in G1 before S, then in G2 after S, at the mitotic metaphase plate. Do they pair up in mitosis ...?