Mutations may exert a variety of effects on living systems. List at least three categories
of mutations based on their biological effects.
Name two evolutionarily significant benefits of meiosis that are not present in mitosis.
If an X-linked disorder is lethal to the affected individual prior to the age at which one
reaches reproductive maturation, the lethality will be expressed only in males. Why is
this so?
The phenotype of vestigial (short) wings (vg) in Drosophila melanogaster is caused by
a recessive mutant gene that independently assorts with a recessive gene for hairy (h)
body. Assume that a cross is made between a fly with normal wings and a hairy body
and a fly with vestigial wings and normal body hair. The wild-type F1 flies were
crossed among each other to produce 1024 offspring. Which phenotypes would you
expect among the 1024 offspring, and how many of each phenotype would you expect?
Describe the direction of information flow in living systems. Use appropriate, scientific
terms in your description.
During translation, which triplets signal chain termination?
Assume that you have cut λ DNA with the restriction enzyme HindIII. You separate the
fragments on an agarose gel and stain the DNA with ethidium bromide. You notice that
the intensity of the stain is less in the bands that have migrated closer to the “+” pole.
Give an explanation for this finding.
Provide a brief definition of the terms additive variance, dominance variance, and
interactive variance.
Under what circumstance might two loci be on the same chromosome but behave as if
independently assorting in crosses?
What are phylogenetic trees?
Assuming that an amino acid sequence is 250 amino acids long, how many different
molecules, each with a unique sequence, could be formed?
If one wishes to clone a gene using typical restriction endonucleases, how does the
restriction endonuclease recognize genes in the genome?
How many haploid sets of chromosomes are present in an individual cell that is
tetraploid (4n)?
Many of the color varieties of summer squash are determined by several interacting
loci: AA or Aa gives white, aaBB or aaBb gives yellow, and aabb produces green.
Assume that two fully heterozygous plants are crossed. Give the phenotypes (with
frequencies) of the offspring.
The term paralog is often used in conjunction with discussions of hemoglobin genes.
What does this term mean, and how does it apply to hemoglobin genes?
The base content of a sample of DNA is as follows: A = 31%, G = 31%, T = 19%, C =
19%. What conclusion can be drawn from this information?