Unit 5

What is the primary function of DNA in cells?

Genetic information is stored in DNA.

What is the process by which DNA is copied into RNA?

Transcription.

What are proteins essential for in an organism?

They are essential tools in the structure and function of an organism.

What are mutations?

Changes in the genetic information of an organism.

How can offspring inherit mutations?

Offspring can inherit germline mutations from their parents.

What are the potential effects of mutations?

Mutations can have harmful, beneficial, or neutral effects.

What does sexual reproduction add to a population?

Genetic variation.

What is the phenotype?

The manifestation of the genotype.

How does the environment interact with phenotypic expression?

The environment can produce large variations in the expression of a trait.

What are amino acids?

The building blocks of proteins.

How many different amino acids are used to make proteins?

20 different amino acids.

What are the components of DNA?

DNA is made up of nucleotides.

What is the role of RNA polymerase?

It assembles a string of nucleotides whose sequence matches the template DNA.

What is the outcome of the transcription process?

Creation of mRNA (messenger RNA).

What is the role of a repressor in gene expression?

It binds to a silencer area of a sequence of DNA or RNA and inhibits the expression of one or more genes.

What do transcription factors do?

They regulate gene expression by binding to specific DNA sequences called enhancers.

What are introns and exons?

Introns are noncoding DNA removed via RNA splicing, and exons are coding DNA joined together after splicing.

What is a germ-line mutation?

A mutation that occurs in egg or sperm cells and is inherited.

What is a somatic mutation?

A mutation that happens in all other cells besides egg or sperm cells.

What is a point mutation?

A mutation that substitutes a nucleotide.

What is an insertion mutation?

Inserts a segment of DNA into an existing one.

What is a deletion mutation?

The removal of a DNA segment.

What is a frameshift mutation?

A mutation that inserts or deletes bases, leading to a shift of the 3 group codons.

What happens during duplication mutation?

A segment of DNA is repeated.

What does inversion mutation entail?

A segment of DNA is flipped and inserted backward.

What is aneuploidy?

When chromosomes are duplicated or lost.

What is chromosome fusion?

Joining two chromosomes together as one.

What is genome duplication?

The entire genome is duplicated, leading to an increase in ploidy.