Bio Exam Revision

biomass

organic matter from living thing (can be used as fuel source)

feedstocks

raw materials used to produce biofuel (carbs based from plants - cellulose, starch), produced from: food crops, agricultural waste, food waste etc.

biodiesels

fuels made from fats/oils

structural genes

code for proteins involved in structure and function

regulatory genes

control activity of other genes, often code for repressor proteins which bind to promoter region and prevent transcription

RNA processing in mRNA strand

• introns removed

• poly-a-tail added

• methyl cap added

• final mRNA produced

protein groups

• globular (3D rounded shape)

• fibrous (long structure)

CRISPR

clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats

PAM

protospacer adjacent motif

pathogen

disease causing agent

NK cells

induce apoptosis

primary lymphoid organs

thymus, bone marrow

secondary lymphoid organs

lymph nodes, tonsils and spleen

Start codon

AUG - met

stop codon

UAA, UAG, UGA

Species

A group of similar organisms that can interbreed in nature and produce vigorous, fertile offspring.

Subspecies

different races of the same species, who do not interbreed directly (gene flow can still exist)

gene pool

genetic makeup of a population, includes sum of all alleles for different genes present in a population

index fossil

fossils that had wide geographic distribution and existed for relatively short period

Half Life

time taken for half of parent isotope to decay into its daughter isotope

Absolute dating - Carbon 14

decays to nitrogen 14, half life is 5700 yrs, used for fossils less than 50,000 yrs old

molecular clock theory

greater difference in nucleotides/amino acid sequence indicates more time for mutations to occur and accumulate and more time since divergence from a recent common ancestor