from chromosomes to genomes

chapter. 6: genomes, genes and alleles; chromosomes

DNA

deoxyribonucleic acid, contains genetic information, common to all species

DNA structure

macromolecule in form of double polymer, 2 long strands of nucleotides wound together in a double helix

nucleotide structure

5 carbon (pentose) deoxyribose sugar, negatively charged phosphate sugar, nitrogenous base

nucleotide bonds

sugar molecule bonds to phosphate group of next nucleotide in strand, nitrogenous base is hydrogen bonded with corresponding nitrogenous base

Complementary Base Pairing

nitrogenous base pairing, adenine bonds with thymine, cytosine bonds with guanine

Genes

sections of DNA/ sequence of nucleotides that code for a specific protein

Alleles

alternative forms of genes, have same position on chromosome but different nitrogenous base sequences

allele origin

two alleles for each gene in an organism, one from each parent

genome

sum of all DNA, measured in number of nucleotide bases in haploid set of chromosomes

genomics

study of genomes

Human genome

mapped in 2003 by human genome project, 20,000 to 25,000 genes in human

bioinformatics

science of analysing biological data using advanced computing techniques

chromosomes

one DNA molecule, found in nucleus, made of tightly coiled DNA

histones

proteins that DNA wraps around to become a chromosome

heredity

study of inheritance; how genes pass from one generation to next

karyotype

homologous

autosome

sex chromosome

haploid

diploid

gene locus

linked genes

sex-linked

aneuploidy

non-disjunction

trisomy

monosomy