Genetics Exam questions and
answers graded A+
Genetics - ANS✅✅the science of genes (DNA), heredity, and variation in living organisms
Why is genetics important? - ANS✅✅Individual: health, unique traits, happiness/ suffering
Society: population, food, nutrition, medicine, stability
Biology: understand life, improve of life of ourselves, others ( plants, animals, microbes), evolution
Why is genetics useful/cool? - ANS✅✅Affects how you, feel, behave, interact etc.
How long you may live and what diseases you may have or will have
Helps understand life, our planet Earth and environment, build a better future
Is homosexuality genetic? - ANS✅✅No; it is epigenetic
Why is there familial resemblance? - ANS✅✅Shared similar genes
What are the roles of genetics in biology? - ANS✅✅Life on Earth evolved from the same ancestors,
3.5-4 bya
All organisms share similar genetic systems
All cells use double-stranded DNA as the genetic material
Viruses have genes composed of either RNA or DNA, but not both
Gene structure, regulation and organization vary vastly among life forms
Central Dogma - ANS✅✅DNA(Replication)- MRNA(transcription)-Protein(Translation)
Reverse Transcription - ANS✅✅MRNA to DNA
Model Genetic Organism Characteristics - ANS✅✅Have been studied extensively because of being
especially suitable for research
Short generation time
,Significant number of progeny (offspring)
Adapt well to the laboratory environment
Easy and cheap to care for and propagate
Escherichia Coli - ANS✅✅Prokaryote; Lives in the gut of humans and other mammals
Saccharomyces cerevisiae - ANS✅✅Eukaryote; "budding yeast" Single cell fungus (Baker's Yeast)
Arabidopsis thaliana - ANS✅✅Thale-Cress Plant (for plant molecular genetics studies)
Caenorhabditis elegans - ANS✅✅Nematode; Worm commonly found in soil for studies of
development and cell differentiation
Drosophila Melanogaster - ANS✅✅Fruit fly; used for over 100 years of genetic studies. Many
human genes were first identified by their counterparts in Drosophila
Apis mellifera - ANS✅✅Honey bee; model for studies of communication, behavior, neurology
ecology and evolution.
Danio rerio - ANS✅✅Zebrafish; A model system for studying development, leading to better
understanding of human conditions.
Mus musculus - ANS✅✅House mouse; sacrificed for humans, mammalian model organism
Gregor Mendel - ANS✅✅Published his studies using pea plants in 1866, studies were rediscovered
in 1900, Revealed the principles of heredity, founder of modern genetics
Walter Sutton and Theodor Boveri - ANS✅✅showed that heredity (gene) is located on
chromosomes in 1902
Thomas Hunt Morgan - ANS✅✅Established fruit flies as a model for studying transmission genetics
in the early 1900s.
, 1940s - ANS✅✅Began to uncover organization, structure and function of genes of bacteria and
viruses. Demonstrated DNA is genetic material.
1950s - ANS✅✅Double Helix structure of DNA discovered by Watson and Crick
1960s - ANS✅✅Genetic code was deciphered. 3-letter codes on mRNA from DNA. Worked out the
basic principles of translation (mRNA to protein) Solved the mystery of how DNA directs protein
synthesis.
From 1970s - ANS✅✅Recombinant DNA technology revolutionized genetics. DNA
cloning-make/modify DNA in test tubes and DNA sequencing- determine the base (ATCG) order
Genomic Era (1995) - ANS✅✅Full genome sequences determined: Bacteria, Yeast, Human,
Animals, Plants
This Century - ANS✅✅New knowledge of how genes work. MicroRNA/siRNA, epigenetics, stem
cells and human diseases, CRISPR, genomic editing.
Future of Genetics - ANS✅✅Understanding of gene and function in cells, tissues, organs, whole
body under various physiological, environment conditions. Cure diseases, prolong life, more food
Gene - ANS✅✅Unit of heredity
Alleles - ANS✅✅Multiple forms of a gene
Prokaryotic vs. Eukaryotic - ANS✅✅Prokaryotic cells lack a nuclear membrane and do not
generally possess membrane-bound organelles, wheres eukaryotic cells are more complex,
possessing a nucleus and membrane bound organelles such as chloroplasts and mitochondria.
Genotype vs. Phenotype - ANS✅✅Genes determine the expression of traits. The genetic
information that an individual organism possesses is its genotype; the trait is its phenotype.
Transmission Genetics - ANS✅✅aka. classical genetics; encompasses the basic principles of
heredity and how traits are passed from one generation to the next.
answers graded A+
Genetics - ANS✅✅the science of genes (DNA), heredity, and variation in living organisms
Why is genetics important? - ANS✅✅Individual: health, unique traits, happiness/ suffering
Society: population, food, nutrition, medicine, stability
Biology: understand life, improve of life of ourselves, others ( plants, animals, microbes), evolution
Why is genetics useful/cool? - ANS✅✅Affects how you, feel, behave, interact etc.
How long you may live and what diseases you may have or will have
Helps understand life, our planet Earth and environment, build a better future
Is homosexuality genetic? - ANS✅✅No; it is epigenetic
Why is there familial resemblance? - ANS✅✅Shared similar genes
What are the roles of genetics in biology? - ANS✅✅Life on Earth evolved from the same ancestors,
3.5-4 bya
All organisms share similar genetic systems
All cells use double-stranded DNA as the genetic material
Viruses have genes composed of either RNA or DNA, but not both
Gene structure, regulation and organization vary vastly among life forms
Central Dogma - ANS✅✅DNA(Replication)- MRNA(transcription)-Protein(Translation)
Reverse Transcription - ANS✅✅MRNA to DNA
Model Genetic Organism Characteristics - ANS✅✅Have been studied extensively because of being
especially suitable for research
Short generation time
,Significant number of progeny (offspring)
Adapt well to the laboratory environment
Easy and cheap to care for and propagate
Escherichia Coli - ANS✅✅Prokaryote; Lives in the gut of humans and other mammals
Saccharomyces cerevisiae - ANS✅✅Eukaryote; "budding yeast" Single cell fungus (Baker's Yeast)
Arabidopsis thaliana - ANS✅✅Thale-Cress Plant (for plant molecular genetics studies)
Caenorhabditis elegans - ANS✅✅Nematode; Worm commonly found in soil for studies of
development and cell differentiation
Drosophila Melanogaster - ANS✅✅Fruit fly; used for over 100 years of genetic studies. Many
human genes were first identified by their counterparts in Drosophila
Apis mellifera - ANS✅✅Honey bee; model for studies of communication, behavior, neurology
ecology and evolution.
Danio rerio - ANS✅✅Zebrafish; A model system for studying development, leading to better
understanding of human conditions.
Mus musculus - ANS✅✅House mouse; sacrificed for humans, mammalian model organism
Gregor Mendel - ANS✅✅Published his studies using pea plants in 1866, studies were rediscovered
in 1900, Revealed the principles of heredity, founder of modern genetics
Walter Sutton and Theodor Boveri - ANS✅✅showed that heredity (gene) is located on
chromosomes in 1902
Thomas Hunt Morgan - ANS✅✅Established fruit flies as a model for studying transmission genetics
in the early 1900s.
, 1940s - ANS✅✅Began to uncover organization, structure and function of genes of bacteria and
viruses. Demonstrated DNA is genetic material.
1950s - ANS✅✅Double Helix structure of DNA discovered by Watson and Crick
1960s - ANS✅✅Genetic code was deciphered. 3-letter codes on mRNA from DNA. Worked out the
basic principles of translation (mRNA to protein) Solved the mystery of how DNA directs protein
synthesis.
From 1970s - ANS✅✅Recombinant DNA technology revolutionized genetics. DNA
cloning-make/modify DNA in test tubes and DNA sequencing- determine the base (ATCG) order
Genomic Era (1995) - ANS✅✅Full genome sequences determined: Bacteria, Yeast, Human,
Animals, Plants
This Century - ANS✅✅New knowledge of how genes work. MicroRNA/siRNA, epigenetics, stem
cells and human diseases, CRISPR, genomic editing.
Future of Genetics - ANS✅✅Understanding of gene and function in cells, tissues, organs, whole
body under various physiological, environment conditions. Cure diseases, prolong life, more food
Gene - ANS✅✅Unit of heredity
Alleles - ANS✅✅Multiple forms of a gene
Prokaryotic vs. Eukaryotic - ANS✅✅Prokaryotic cells lack a nuclear membrane and do not
generally possess membrane-bound organelles, wheres eukaryotic cells are more complex,
possessing a nucleus and membrane bound organelles such as chloroplasts and mitochondria.
Genotype vs. Phenotype - ANS✅✅Genes determine the expression of traits. The genetic
information that an individual organism possesses is its genotype; the trait is its phenotype.
Transmission Genetics - ANS✅✅aka. classical genetics; encompasses the basic principles of
heredity and how traits are passed from one generation to the next.
