Genetics : Genetics

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Genetics

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Example Questions

Example Question #61 : Genetics

What characteristics define a nucleotide?

Possible Answers:

5-carbon sugar

phosphate group, nitrogen-containing base

phosphate group, 5-carbon sugar & nitrogen-containing base

phosphate group

nitrogen-containing base

Correct answer:

phosphate group, 5-carbon sugar & nitrogen-containing base

Explanation:

A nucleotide is the building block of nucleic acids, such as DNA & RNA. They contain a phosphate group, 5-carbon sugar & nitrogen-containing base all covalently bound together.

Example Question #62 : Genetics

What is the difference between pyrimidine and purine bases?

Possible Answers:

Pyrimidine bases are monocyclic, while purine bases are bicyclic.

Pyrimidine bases are less pure.

Purine bases are only seen in DNA models.

Pyrimidine bases have more conjugated bonds.

Purine bases have less double bonds.

Correct answer:

Pyrimidine bases are monocyclic, while purine bases are bicyclic.

Explanation:

Pyrimidine bases include cytosine, thymine, and uracil (RNA), and are monocyclic. Purine bases include adenine and guanine, and are bicylic with two rings in the molecular structure. 

Example Question #63 : Genetics

What replaces thyamine in RNA production? 

Possible Answers:

uracil

adenine

guanine

cytosine

Correct answer:

uracil

Explanation:

The correct answer here is uracil. Remember that in DNA replication, the nucleic acids present are TCGA. When we switch over to RNA production, the thyamine is replaced by uracil to form UCGA. If you chose any of the other options, remember that each one has a pair (AT and CG) and in RNA it switches over to UA and CG. If you remember that, you will always recall that uracil replaces thyamine in RNA sequencing

Example Question #64 : Genetics

Which of the following sub units of organic compounds is characterized as a lipid?

Possible Answers:

proteins

carbohydrates

fatty acids

sugars

Correct answer:

fatty acids

Explanation:

The correct answer here is fatty acids because lipids are fats. If you look to the other options, we can eliminate nucleic acids because those are what characterize DNA and RNA (thyamine, uracil, guanine, adenine, and cytosine). Proteins are characterized as amino acids, not lipids. You can easily eliminate sugar and carbohydrates because those are the same thing, both characterized as -saccharides. 

Example Question #1 : Mendelian And Population Genetics

In a certain species of bird, yellow beaks are dominant to orange beaks, and blue feathers are dominant to black feathers.

Two heterozygous birds are crossed. What fraction of the offspring would be expected to have yellow beaks and blue feathers?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

This question requires us to do a dihybrid cross. We can represent the gene for beak color with the symbol "A" for dominant yellow and "a" for the recessive orange. Likewise, for feather color, we can use "B" for blue feathers and "b" for black.

The problem states that both birds are heterozygous for each trait, implying that our cross is between two birds with the genotype AaBb.

Now we look at the gametes that can be produced by these parents: AB, Ab, aB, and ab. These gametes can then be used to make a punnet square.

Offspring: 1 AABB, 3 Aabb, 8 AaBa, 3 aaBb, 1 aabb

There are 16 total offspring. 12 of them carry the dominant A allele, giving them the yellow beak phenotype.

Yellow beaks: 1 AABB, 3Aabb, 8 AaBb

Finally, of these 12, 9 carry the dominant B allele for blue feathers.

Yellow beaks and blue feathers: 1 AABB, 8 AaBb

This gives a total of 9 out of the 16 offspring that will express both the yellow beak and blue feather phenotypes.

You should be familiar with the 9:3:3:1 phenotypic ratio resulting from dihybrid crosses.

Example Question #4 : Understanding Dominant/Recessive

Consider two traits in pea plants that exhibit complete dominance. Smooth peas are dominant to wrinkled peas, and purple flowers are dominant to white flowers.

A pure breeding plant with purple flowers and wrinkled peas is crossed with a pure breeding plant with white flowers and smooth peas. The first generation is self-pollinated to produce the second generation.

What fraction of the second generation will be heterozygous for both traits?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

When dealing with two traits, it helps to approach each trait separately. The question asks for the fraction of plants in the second generation that are heterozygous for both traits.

First, we will look at the first generation. The parents are both pure breeding, meaning they are homozygous for each trait. One is purple (dominant) and wrinkled (recessive), while the other is white (recessive) and round (dominant). The result will be dihybrid offspring.

Parent cross: PPrr x ppRR

Offspring: All offspring will be PpRr and exhibit both dominant phenotypes (purple and round).

Now we will look at the first generation self-cross for each trait.

First generation: PpRr x PpRr

Offspring for color: 1 PP, 2 Pp, 1 pp; 3 purple and 1 white.

Offspring for seeds: 1 RR, 2 Rr, 1 rr; 3 round and 1 wrinkled.

We can see that half of the offspring will be heterozygous for color, and half of the offspring will be heterozygous for seed shape.

Since we are looking for plants that have both of these traits, we multiply these two probabilities together.

Example Question #1 : Mendelian And Population Genetics

Consider a plant with the following characteristics.

Round leaves (R) are dominant to pointed leaves (r).

White flowers (W) are dominant to pink flowers (w).

Plants heterozygous for both traits are crossed.

What is the probability of obtaining a plant with pointed leaves and white flowers?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The genotype to obtain pointed leaves is rr, while the genotypes to obtain white flowers are WW or Ww. Determine the frequence of obtaining WWrr or Wwrr using a Punnett Square.

Punnett_square_10

You should be familiar with the ratios represented in a dihybrid cross: 9:3:3:1. There will be nine inidividuals with both dominant traits (pointed leaves and white flowers), three individuals dominant for one trait (round leaves and pink flowers), three individuals dominant for the other trait (pointed leaves and white flowers), and only one individual recessive for both traits (pointed leaves and pink flowers).

Example Question #2 : Mendelian And Population Genetics

In a population of deer mice, the allele for white hair is recessive and the allele for brown hair is dominant. If the population consists of 500 individuals and the frequency of homozygous brown mice is 49%, what is the frequency of the recessive allele? Assume the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

In Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the sum of the dominant allele frequency (p) and the recessive allele frequency (q) is equal to 1.

The question says that 49% of the population consists of mice with the homozygous dominant gene, therefore, the dominant genotype frequency is equal to 0.49.

The question asks us to find the frequency of the recessive allele (q). In order to find the frequency of the recessive allele, we must first find the frequency of the dominant allele (p). According to the Hardy-Weinberg principle, the square root of the homozygous genotype frequency is equal to the allele frequency.

The dominant allele frequency is 0.7. Using this, we can solve for the recessive allele frequency.

Example Question #1 : Mendelian And Population Genetics

A rare recessive mutation causes rabbits that are normally white to be pink. If one out of every 625 rabbits is pink, what percentage of the population is heterozygous?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We can use the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium formulas to calculate the allele frequencies.

We know that the frequency of homozygous recessive (pink) rabbits is . This is equal to  in the Hardy-Weinberg calculation. We can use this information to solve for , the recessive allele frequency.

Now that we know the value of , we can solve for the value of .

The frequency of heterozygotes is equal to in the Hardy-Weinberg calculation. Now that we know the frequency of each allele, we can complete this calculation.

Example Question #4 : Mendelian And Population Genetics

Eye color in a certain species is decided by a single gene locus. Only two alleles influence eye color in a population of this species that exists in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The dominant allele codes for brown eyes, while the recessive allele codes for blue eyes.

If the frequency of the brown allele is , what percent of the population is heterozygous at this locus?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

For problems of this type, we need to understand the Hardy-Weinberg equations:

Here,  represents the frequency of the dominant allele, while c refers to the frequency of the recessive allele.  and  denote the proportion of homozygous dominant and recessive phenotypes, respectively. Finally, the proportion of heterozygotes is denoted by .

We already know that , and if only two alleles are present in the population,  must be equal to .

Using the values for and , we can solve for the proportion of heterozygotes using the term of the Hardy-Weinberg equation.

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