Chapter 1 - Introduction to Genetics

Genetics is...

connection between molecular & phenotypic variation

Reasons to study genetics

To understand & treat disease
Biotechnology
Drug design, development, & production

Mendelian genetics

Inheritance pattern of independent traits

Molecular genetics

Inheritance, expression, & variation of nucleic acids & proteins

Evolutionary Genetics

Origins of & genetic relationships between organisms
Evolution of genes and genomes

Genomics Era

1990s-present

Phosphodiester bonds

Link 5' group of one nucleotide to 3' hydroxyl group of another

DNA is anti-parallel due to...

polarity

Chargaff's rule

% of A and T are equal, % of G and C are equal

Central dogma of molecular biology

The flow of genetic material is DNA -> RNA -> proteins

Promoters

Are not transcribed but control downstream transcription

Eukaryotes have...

Introns & exons

Bacteria and archaea have...

One exon with no splicing

Splicing

Removal of introns before translation

UTRs

Untranslated regions in some exons

Translation of exons

Can be complete or partial

Natural selection requires...

Variation of traits
Heritability of traits
Traits that influence fitness

Sources of genetic variation

Mutation
Recombination
Gene flow

Adaptive population environment interactions

Natural selection

Non-adaptive population environment interactions

Genetic drift

Changes in allele frequency

Result of population environment interactions