BIOL 3301 EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
LATEST UPDATE (GRADED A+)
In what three ways might two traits be correlated?
1) genes that determine phenotype 'x' also affect phenotype 'y'
2) linkage (a gene that controls phenotype 'x' is very close along a chromosome (linked) to a gene that
controls phenotype 'y', meaning that alleles at both genes tend to get inherited together)
3) chance
What are three reasons why the idea of correlation is important?
1) reveals that genes affect two things at once, 'x' and 'y'
2) may help establish relationships between parents and offspring
3) may reveal that as you improve 'x', you simultaneously impair 'y', in artificial selection experiments
What are two things that sequences of chemicals do in the genome?
1) store sequence information that specifies RNA structures (tRNAs, rRNAs, non-coding RNA)
2) store sequence information for production of amino acid chains (proteins) (the classic concept)
Garrod's Inborn Errors of Metabolism
1902
looked at phenotype of air-blackened urine, found in pedigrees (especially involving marriages of first
cousins; inborn and transmissible)
called alkaptonuria, results from defect in gene product (enzyme) in metabolic pathway
patients excrete HA, rather than metabolizing to MA and further on
What are two other traits related to the metabolic pathway?
1) albinism
2) phenylketonuria (PKU; screening is the law, via the Guthrie test)
Neurospora crassa is a type of fungi that comes in two mating types. What are they?
A and a (both are haploid)
The mating types of Neurospora crassa join to form:
diploid.
The diploid cell of Neurospora crassa can undergo meiosis to form:
haploid spores.
What are prototrophs?
bacterial, wild-type organisms that can grow on minimal media with salts, glucose, and biotin, which
provides nitrogen, carbon, and an essential vitamin
(Wild-type Neospora crassa are prototrophs.)
LATEST UPDATE (GRADED A+)
In what three ways might two traits be correlated?
1) genes that determine phenotype 'x' also affect phenotype 'y'
2) linkage (a gene that controls phenotype 'x' is very close along a chromosome (linked) to a gene that
controls phenotype 'y', meaning that alleles at both genes tend to get inherited together)
3) chance
What are three reasons why the idea of correlation is important?
1) reveals that genes affect two things at once, 'x' and 'y'
2) may help establish relationships between parents and offspring
3) may reveal that as you improve 'x', you simultaneously impair 'y', in artificial selection experiments
What are two things that sequences of chemicals do in the genome?
1) store sequence information that specifies RNA structures (tRNAs, rRNAs, non-coding RNA)
2) store sequence information for production of amino acid chains (proteins) (the classic concept)
Garrod's Inborn Errors of Metabolism
1902
looked at phenotype of air-blackened urine, found in pedigrees (especially involving marriages of first
cousins; inborn and transmissible)
called alkaptonuria, results from defect in gene product (enzyme) in metabolic pathway
patients excrete HA, rather than metabolizing to MA and further on
What are two other traits related to the metabolic pathway?
1) albinism
2) phenylketonuria (PKU; screening is the law, via the Guthrie test)
Neurospora crassa is a type of fungi that comes in two mating types. What are they?
A and a (both are haploid)
The mating types of Neurospora crassa join to form:
diploid.
The diploid cell of Neurospora crassa can undergo meiosis to form:
haploid spores.
What are prototrophs?
bacterial, wild-type organisms that can grow on minimal media with salts, glucose, and biotin, which
provides nitrogen, carbon, and an essential vitamin
(Wild-type Neospora crassa are prototrophs.)
