ECOLOGY, AND ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY
SUMMARY 2026
◉ Okazaki fragments.
Answer: Short DNA fragments made on the lagging strand
◉ Why does the lagging strand exist?.
Answer: DNA polymerase can only synthesize 5' to 3', so one strand
must be copied in fragments
◉ Silent mutation.
Answer: Mutation that codes for the same amino acid
◉ Missense mutation.
Answer: Mutation that changes one amino acid to another
◉ Nonsense mutation.
Answer: Mutation that creates a stop codon
◉ Frameshift mutation.
,Answer: Mutation that shifts the reading frame
◉ What causes a frameshift mutation?.
Answer: Insertion or deletion not in a multiple of 3
◉ Why are frameshift mutations usually severe?.
Answer: They change every downstream codon after the mutation
◉ UV light as a mutagen.
Answer: Causes thymine dimers
◉ Nitrous acid as a mutagen.
Answer: Causes deamination
◉ X-rays as mutagens.
Answer: Cause DNA strand breaks
◉ Intercalating agents as mutagens.
Answer: Cause frameshift mutations
◉ Photoreactivation.
Answer: Repair mechanism that directly breaks thymine dimers
, ◉ Photolyase.
Answer: Enzyme used in photoreactivation
◉ What does photoreactivation require?.
Answer: Photolyase and visible light
◉ Nucleotide excision repair.
Answer: Removes damaged sections of DNA and replaces them
◉ Mismatch repair.
Answer: Fixes replication errors
◉ SOS repair.
Answer: Error-prone DNA damage bypass system
◉ Operon.
Answer: Multiple genes controlled by one promoter
◉ Promoter.
Answer: DNA region where RNA polymerase binds to begin
transcription