Introduction to Genetics and the Central Dogma

Vocabulary flashcards covering cellular structures, key historical geneticists, and the processes of transcription, translation, and the central dogma based on lecture notes.

Karyotype

The set number and visual representation of all the chromosomes that make up an individual organism.

Chromatin

The clustered and clumped structure DNA takes inside the nucleus when cells are not undergoing division.

Gregor Mendel

The scientist known as the founding father of genetics who discovered gene inheritance using pea plants in the 1860s.

Thomas Morgan

The scientist who studied male versus female flies to discover that genes are carried on chromosomes.

Barbara McClintock

The scientist who discovered in the 1940s, using corn, that genes can jump from one chromosome to another.

Model Organisms

Non-human organisms, such as pea plants, flies, or corn, used by scientists to study biological concepts that relate back to humans.

Molecular Biology

The study of biological processes focusing on what is inside a cell, as opposed to entire ecosystems.

Transcription

The process of taking instructions from DNA and copying them into RNA so the instructions can leave the nucleus.

RNA

A flexible, single-stranded messenger version of DNA that moves outside the nucleus to provide instructions for protein synthesis.

Uracil

A nucleobase found in RNA that pairs with adenine, replacing the thymine found in DNA.

Translation

The process of taking single-stranded messenger RNA code and turning it into a protein.

Central Dogma

The central philosophy in biology stating that information flows from DNA to RNA to protein.

Alpha Helix

A specific structural form shaped like a helix that proteins can form.