Biology Topic 8 Genome Sequencing Projects

What is a genome?

Complete set of genes in an organism, containing all the DNA base sequences that code for its inherited characteristics

What is genome sequencing?

PRocess of determining the exact order of nucleotide basees in all the DNA of an organism , allowing scientists to map and analyse its entire genome

How has technology enabled genome sequencing?

Advances in DNA sequencing technology such as automated sequencing and high throughput methods , allow scientists to rapidly read and assemble the base sequence of whole genomes

How does genome sequencing help scientists?

GEnome sequencing helps identify gene function, understanding gene interactions and compare genomes between species to study evolutionary relationships and genetic diversity

Why are many organisms sequenced (there entire DNA sequence has been determined)?

allows comparison of conserved genes , identification of shared ancestry adn understandinf of evolutionary divergence

How is a reference genome created?

Produced by collecting DNA samples from many individuals of the same species, sequencing them, combining the data to create a representative genome sequence

Why use multiple individuals in genome project?

Avoids basing the refrence genome on rare mutations or atypical alleles found in a single organism, ensuring the reference genome reflects the species as a whole

What was the human genome project?

International collaborative reasurch programme leached in 1990 to sequence the entire human genome

Why was the human genome project pubicaly funded?

Ensured the project had no commercial influence and all data was made freely available , allowing rabid sharing and maximising global scienfific benifit

How was the human refrence genome produced?

DNA samples from multiple people world wide were sequenced and combined to create a single refrence genome representing the human species

When was the human genome completed and how accurate was it?

2003 the human genome was sequenced to 99.9% accuracy , marking the completion of the human genome project

How large is the human genome?

Contains over 3 bilion base pairs adn approximately 25 000 genes which was far fewer than expected before sequencing

What is the proteome?

Full range of protines that a cell or organism is able to produce based on gene expression

Why are there more protines than genes?

Alternative splicing (different combinations of exons) and post translational modification (changes made to protines after synthesis)

What is the epigenome?

Inherited changes in gene expression that do not involve changes to the DNA base sequene , often caused by chemical modifications such as DNA methylation or histone modification