A.2.

1 - WHAT IS GENETICS

Genetics: the study of genes and inheritance

WHERE IS YOUR GENETIC INFORMATION?

CHROMOSOMES

Are an __________________ form of DNA, where the DNA has _____

copies of itself
 an "uncopied" form of a chromosome is called a
_______________
In humans we have 23 unique chromatids/chromosomes.
 all carry different information
We inherit 23 from each ____________ so we end up with 46 total
 46 total but 23 pairs
o an analogy would be a cookbook with 2 recipes for everything

Q: If we have 46 chromosomes, how many chromatids do we have?

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GENES

A _______________ on a strand of DNA that carries genetic instructions for a single __________.

Genetic information is in the _________________ of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).

 similar to how computers store their information as 1's and 0's
o ex. 101100010
 DNA's code uses G's, T’s, C’s, and A’s
o ex. GTTCGAAAT
o not actually letters
but instead ___________
_________
o ____________: G
o ____________: T
o ____________: C
o ____________: A

HUMAN KARYOTYPE

An ___________ where the chromosomes are organized into ___________ and in order (depending on
size and shape)
 from largest to smallest
 for similar sized chromosomes, _______ is added to reveal the pattern of "dark bands"
 the position of the _________________ also helps.

Q: Who is chromosome 1's pair?

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The 23rd pair is especially difficult to match in males because the
chromosome inherited from the ___________ is missing a "chunk"
 the sex is revealed with the 23rd pair
 we call the 23rd pair the _______ chromosomes
o the other 22 pairs are ___________________

AMNIOCENTESIS

An amniocentesis is a prenatal test done

to look at the _______________ of an
unborn child.
 this test is done by extracting
________________ fluid (fluid that
fetus floats in) which contains
developing cells
 only done if there is a high risk of
_____________ diseases or
deformities
 the test can reveal if the
chromosomes look correct
o ex. _________
_______________ has 3 copies of the 21st chromosome when there should only be 2.

MAKING MORE CHROMOSOMES

Replicating chromosomes is essential for mitosis to

occur.
 Mitosis: when a body (autosomal) cell divides for the
purpose of ______________ or replacing ______ or
_______________ cells.
o The chromatids are able to duplicate by a
process called ____________________________
where DNA is “unzipped” and the matching
(_____________________) nitrogen bases join in

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  Meiosis: produces ______________________ cells (a.k.a. sex cells or gametes)

 Mitosis → 2 new daughter cell will all 46 chromosomes

o ____________ = doubles of the DNA (2n)
 Meiosis → 4 gametes all with 23 chromosomes
o ____________ = half the usual amount of DNA (1n)
o gametes in animals come in 2 types:
 __________ or _______

FERTILIZATION

Fertilization occurs when a sperm __________ with an egg, the resulting cell will have all the DNA
from each _____________ (23 chromosomes + 23 chromosomes = 46 chromosomes) and is called a
____________
The zygote will undergo ___________, duplicating itself over and over again becoming an ____________
The advantage of sexual reproduction (using meiosis + fertilization) is it creates diversity
 variations within a species
 increases ____________________ of the species from diseases

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HOW DOES THE DIVERSITY HAPPEN?

Remember, meiosis produces 4 genetically ________________ gametes.

 The number of possible sperm and egg combinations is ______

 Every chromosome has 16 combinations after meiosis + fertilization
o That means that 23 chromosomes have 16 combinations = 70 trillion

SELECTIVE BREEDING

Long before knowledge of genes and chromosomes, people knew offspring were similar to parents.
Ancient people would choose only to plant the seeds of the best plants.
 After generations and generations of _________________________________, the offspring were
almost unrecognizable
o the new generations had a lot more desirable traits and were generally more
productive
o wheat that produces 16 grains instead of 10
o kernel size or animal size
o larger fruit
o ex. Indigenous in North America selectively breeding maize (popping corn)
from ____________________.

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GREGOR MENDEL

Before Charles Darwin (who developed the Theory of Evolution) there was an Austrian monk whose
research with pea plants was well ahead of its time.
In the 1860s, Gregor Mendel became interested in breeding pea plants where he made the first
discoveries about genetics.
 Later he became known as the "_______________________________"
His initial discovery was that pea plants didn't ___________ their traits.
 ex. a purple flower pea plant crossed (sexual
reproduced) with a white flower plant wasn't
light purple, it was fully purple
o Gregor discovered genes could be
____________ for a generation
He did similar experiments with other pea plant traits:
 seed colour

 seed shape

 pod colour

 pod shape

 stem length

He discovered all these traits had similar results to the

flower colour experiment, but the results didn't affect
each other
 ex. pod colour had no effect on seed colour
From his experiments he came up with 4 conclusions:
1. Inheritance must be determined by factors
(alleles)
2. Offspring randomly inherit one factor from
each parent
 Law of Independent Assortment
 each parent only sends 1 factor to offspring
3. Factors are independent of each other
 Law of Segregation
4. Some factors are more powerful than others
 ex. purple flowers more powerful than white flowers

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REVIEW
1. Match the following terms with the analogy that best describes each term.
o DNA
o Chromosome
o Gene
o Karyotype
o Protein
a. a cookbook with several recipes in it
b. an entire library of cookbooks neatly arranged in order from the largest book to the
smallest book
c. the cake produced by following recipe instructions
d. the letters and words in a recipe
e. the instructions for making a cake

2. Dogs have 78 chromosomes, cats have 34 chromosomes, and goldfish have 94

chromosomes. Explain why the usual number of chromosomes in autosomal cells for any
species is always an even number.

3. Describe what would happen if the process of meiosis did not occur and two cells with two
sets of chromosomes combined to produce a new child. Why is meiosis necessary?

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2. 2 - INHERITANCE

Inheritance studies _________________ traits not _________________ traits

 inherited traits are the result of genes

ALLELES

Alleles are alternate forms of a __________

 ex. if the gene is eye colour, the alleles would be blue eyes, green eyes, or brown eyes.
 in most cases there only exists ____ possible alleles.
 we possess 2 alleles for every gene because 1 was inherited from each parent.
o 1 from _________, 1 from _______

DOMINANT VS RECESSIVE

Mendel's pea plant experiment is a good indicator that in every gene 1 allele is _____________ than
the other
 ex. purple pea plant flower > white perse plant flower.
 we call the more powerful allele a ________________ trait, and the weaker allele a
________________ trait.
 only ___ dominant allele needs to be in your DNA for you to express the dominant trait.
o ex. in pea plants, if purple flowers is the allele 𝑃, and white flowers 𝑝. A pea plant
with the allele pair _____ or _____ will have purple flowers.
o only _____ would produce white flowers.
 the pair of alleles you possess, is known as _____________ whereas the characteristic you
display is known as _____________.
o ex. the ____________ 𝑃𝑝 in pea plants will produce a ____________ of purple flowers.

PUNNETT SQUARES

Punnett Squares are a useful tool in inheritance to determine ________________ of genotypes and
phenotypes in offspring
How to Use a Punnet Square:
 ex. the ability to roll your tongue is caused by a dominant allele. Suppose 2 parents each
have rolling tongues but are also ____________ of the recessive allele. Determine the
probability of genotypes and phenotypes of their offering.
1. Choose a letter to assign to the trait
o usually, the letter corresponds with the dominant allele.
o ex. 𝑅 for rolling tongue
o the recessive allele is always the lowercase of the dominant.
o ex. 𝑟 for non-rolling tongue

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 2. Determine the parent's genotypes
o since both parents have the dominant trait, they each have at least 1 𝑅.
o since both parents carry the recessive trail, they each have at least 1 𝑟.
o as a result, both parents have the genotype 𝑅𝑟
3. Draw the punnet square
o place one parent's genotype above and the other to the left

4.
5.
o 𝑅𝑅 has a 25% chance
o 𝑅𝑟 has a 50% chance
o 𝑟𝑟 has a 25% chance
o Rolling tongue has a 75% chance
o Non-rolling tongue has a 25% chance

Q: One parent possesses the dominant allele 𝑅 for tongue rolling and the recessive allele 𝑟. The
other parent cannot roll their tongue. What percentage of their offspring will be able to roll their
tongue?

GENES AND PROTEINS

The only thing your genes actually control are which _____________ to produce
 Your proteins are what is unique about you
o ex. blue eye pigment is a different protein than brown eye pigment
Your DNA contains over 25,000 genes which means there are 25,000 "recipes" for proteins

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Some types of proteins you produce are:

HOMOZYGOUS AND HETEROZYGOUS

Homozygous: When an organism has 2 of the ________ allele

 2 types:
1. Homozygous Dominant: Both alleles _______________
o Ex. 𝑃𝑃
2. Homozygous Recessive: Both alleles _______________
o ex. 𝑝𝑝
Heterozygous: When an organism has 1 dominant and 1 recessive allele
 ex. 𝑃𝑝

Q: It is known that curly hair is dominant to straight hair. A homozygous dominant man has a child
with a strait haired woman. Use a Punnet Square to determine the probability their child will have
curly hair.

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OTHER MECHANISMS OF INHERITANCE

Not all genes follow "________________ Inheritance".

 Mendelian Inheritance is characterized by:
o Only 2 possible alleles
o One dominant over the other
o Separate genes don't affect each other
o Organisms always have 2 alleles

Multiple Allele Traits: _______ than 2 possible alleles

 ex. Blood type has 3 allele's: ___, ___, and ___
o leads to more variation, possible genotypes include:
o 𝐴𝐴, 𝐴𝑂, 𝐴𝐵, 𝐵𝑂, 𝐵𝐵, 𝑂𝑂
o 𝐴 and 𝐵 are dominant over 𝑂
Incomplete Dominance: No dominant allele, results in ______________
 ex. Snapdragon flowers can be red or white or pink
o pink is caused by having red and white alleles
Codominance: Multiple dominant alleles, resulting in both _________________ present
 ex. 𝐴𝐵 blood type
 ex. Calico coloured cats
o instead of blended fur colour it becomes patches of black, white, and orange fur.
Epistasis: One gene ___________ on another to be expressed
 ex. guinea pig fur colour requires there to be the gene that produces fur.
Polygenic Traits: A trait is controlled by _____________ genes.
 ex. height and skin colour
o creates a ________________ spectrum of phenotypes instead of a discrete number.
Sex-linked Trait: A gene is located on the ___ but not the ___ chromosome of the sex chromosomes.
 ex. red-green colour-blindness is a sex-linked trait
o being red-green colourblind is caused by a recessive gene
o We can say normal vision: 𝑁
colour-blind vision: 𝑛
o only carried on 𝑋 chromosome. To write the alleles considering the chromosomes
we use slightly different notation:
o ex. ____, ____, and ___
 notice how 𝑌 has no allele, this is what makes it sex-linked
 We know all men have the genotype _____ and women _____

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Q: Draw a sex-linked Punnet Square for the cross between a man with normal vision and a woman
with colour-blindness.

Q: In the previous scenario, what percentage of boy children will be colourblind?

REVIEW
1. A genotype for the fur-colour trait in mice is abbreviated as 𝑀𝑚.
a. State the dominant allele in the genotype.

b. State the recessive allele in the genotype.

c. Is this individual described as homozygous or heterozygous?

d. If black fur is dominant over white fur in mice, state the phenotype of the mouse
with the genotype 𝑀𝑚.

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2. In garden peas, the yellow-seed colour is an autosomal dominant trait over the green-seed
colour.
a. Choose letters to represent the dominant and recessive alleles for this trait. Write
the genotypes for a pea plant that is homozygous for yellow, homozygous for green,
and heterozygous for yellow.

b. Draw a Punnett square for a cross between a homozygous yellow-seeded pea plant
and a homozygous green-seeded pea plant. State the predicted genotypes and
phenotypes of the offspring.

c. Draw a Punnett square for a cross between two of the offspring produced in part b.

d. State the predicted genotypes and phenotypes of the offspring.

3. The gene for eye colour in fruit flies is located on the 𝑋 chromosome. The allele for the
dominant red-eye colour could be represented by the allele 𝑋 , while the allele for the
recessive white-eye colour could be represented by the allele 𝑋 .
a. Draw a sex-linked Punnett square for a male with red eyes who breeds with a
female with white eyes.

b. Determine the percentage probability that the male offspring will have white eyes.

c. Determine the percentage probability that the daughters will have white eyes.

d. Determine the percentage probability that the female offspring are carriers of the
recessive white-eyed allele.

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A.2.3 - DNA

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) contains all of our genetic instructions. Every cell has a _______________
of DNA
DNA is kind of like sheet music:
 there’s only a few symbols used ♩ ♫ ♬
o in DNA the "symbols" arc: 𝐺, 𝐶, 𝑇, 𝐴
 sheet music only makes sense to
someone who can read it
o in cells, ________________ can
read DNA
o ribosomes read DNA and build
proteins in a process called
____________
________________
o DNA itself doesn't make
proteins

PROTEIN SYNTHESIS

Occurs in 2 steps:
1. Transcription: A copy is
made of DNA in the
_____________ and
brought out of the
nucleus to the
ribosomes
o this copy is
called ________
2. Translation: Ribosomes
"read" mRNA ___
"letters" at a time.
o each 3-letter
"code" tells the
ribosome which __________________ comes next in the protein chain
o proteins are made of amino acid chains
o ribosome adds amino acids onto chain until it reads the 3-letter code for "________"
o TAA, TAG or TGA
o The ribosome knew where on the mRNA to start because of the start message: ____
o these 3-letter codes are known as __________ or DNA triplets

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 o the _________ that amino acids are chained together will create different proteins
and protein shapes.
o even though there are _____ codon combinations there are only _____ amino acid
types
o This creates ___________________
 TCT, TCC, TCA, and TCG all say "Serine"

PROTEINS

Proteins are molecules that serve a variety of purposes

(see 2.2 notes)
 the proteins are what makes us unique
Proteins are chains of amino acids
 It’s their _________ that give them their abilities

Q: Write a DNA sequence of bases that coded for the

production of the following amino acid chains.
a) Tryptophan-Phenylanine-Tyrosine

b) Methionine-Glutamate-Aspartate

c) Glutamate-Methionine-Cysteine

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THE STRUCTURE OF DNA

Nucleotides get chained together by

_________________

Nucleotide chains attach to their

_____________________ chain to form DNA

 They fit together due to their ________ but stick together because of _________________ bonds
The overall shape is a double-helix which resembles a twisted ladder.
 The DNA gets read in one direction
o The ends of a gene segment will either have a phosphate bonded to the 3rd or 5th
carbon in the sugar _____________________

o DNA is read from 5 → 3

o the above strand would read 5'TACG3'
 A special case of complementary DNA is a "_________________ complement"
o In English a palindrome is a word spelled the same backwards and forwards,
o ex. racecar
o In DNA its when the complimentary strand is "spelled" the same but backwards.
o ex. 5'ACCTAGGT3'
3’TGGATCCA5’

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Q: What is the complementary DNA strand to 5’ACTGTTA3’? Is it Palindromic?

THE DISCOVERY OF THE STRUCTURE OF DNA

 Erwin Chargaff: discovered one-to-one ratio's of adenine to thymine and guanine to

cytosine.
o he concluded ___'s and ___'s are always together as well as ___'s and ___'s
 Rosalind Franklin: looked at DNA using 𝑥-rays. The
reflected 𝑥-rays formed an ___ pattern
o also discovered phosphate on outside of
molecule
o Franklin's supervisor Maurice Wilkins showed
Watson and Crick her findings without her
permission
o Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958
o A Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded to
___________, _________, and ___________ in 1962

CONDENSING DNA

Without ____________________, each DNA strand would be 2 m long and have to fit in
a cell the size of a dot on your paper.
DNA organizes itself by wrapping around ______________ proteins

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REVIEW
1. Indicate whether each of the following statements is true or false. If a statement is false,
explain why.
a. ____ A DNA triplet code is made up of three amino acids.
b. ____ A DNA triplet code may code for the same amino acid as another DNA triplet
code.
c. ____ Adenine bases can only bond to cytosine bases.
d. ____ A double helix is similar in shape to a spiral staircase.
e. ____ Genes provide the instructions to make proteins.
f. ____ There are ten different amino acids.
g. ____ Histone is one of the four base pairs found along the DNA molecule.
h. ____ Alternating phosphate and deoxyribose sugar make up the backbone of a DNA
strand with the base pairs attached in the middle.
i. ____ During replication, the DNA breaks into small pieces and re-forms as two
smaller halves.
j. ____ A DNA molecule has three strands of nucleotides braided together.
2. Use the “DNA Triplet Codes and Their Corresponding Amino Acids” table to determine
which of the following DNA sequences would code for the production of valine-alanine-
asparagine.
I. AAAAGAATA

II. CATCGCACA

III. GTGGCTAAT

3. Complete the following table that compares protein synthesis to making a cake from a
recipe.

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A.2.4 - MUTATIONS AND GENETIC DISEASES

Cystic fibrosis is a ___________________________ where instead of being slippery, mucus is sticky.

This is caused by a "mistake" in the gene for producing mucus.
We call this "mistake" a _______________
Mutation: a change in the ________________ of __________ on a strand of DNA

 ex. 𝑇𝐴𝐺𝐺𝐶𝑇 → 𝑇𝐴𝐶𝐺𝐶𝑇

MUTATIONS

Most mutations are _______________, either they:

 are so severe, the cell with mutated DNA _________.
 the changed base doesn't change the _________________.
o ex. 𝐶𝐶𝑇 is the code for Proline, if the codon is mutated and now says 𝐶𝐶𝐴, there is
no effect because 𝐶𝐶𝐴 also is the code for Proline.
o called a silent mutation
Mutations in ______________ cells (skin, blood, hair, ctc..) arc generally harmless because only 1 cell
is affected.
Mutations in ______________ cells (sperm and eggs) are more severe because every cell develops
from the fertilization of a sperm and egg.
2 types of mutations:
1. Point Mutation: one base gets ______________ into another base
o ex. original: 𝐴𝑇𝐺 𝐺𝐺𝐴 𝐺𝑇𝑇 𝐶𝐴 …
mutated: 𝐶𝑇𝐶 𝐺𝐺𝐴 𝐺𝑇𝑇 𝐶𝐴 …
o also known as a _________________ mutation
2. Frameshift Mutation: one base gets __________ or ________________
o ex. original: 𝐴𝑇𝐺 𝐺𝐺𝐴 𝐺𝑇𝑇 𝐶𝐴 …
mutated: 𝑇𝐺𝐺 𝐺𝐴𝐺 𝑇𝑇𝐶 𝐴 …
o more serious because everything ________ the mutation is affected.
Q: A gene sequence reads 𝐺𝐺𝐴𝑇𝑇𝐴𝐺𝐴𝐺. A mutation occurs and now it reads 𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐴𝑇𝑇𝐴𝐺𝐴𝐺.
a) Did a point or frameshift mutation occur?

b) Write out the amino acid sequence of each to determine the severity of the mutation

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PASSING ON MUTATIONS

If a mutation is capable of being passed down (ex. germline) then we call it a ______________
______________
Some genetic diseases are ______________ and some ______________
 because of this, getting a non-mutated gene from one parent may compensate for inheriting
a mutated gene from the other parent (if recessive)
 An individual who has a mutated gene but doesn't display the disease is known as a
_____________ for the disease

Q: Cystic fibrosis is a recessive gene. What is the probability of a child having CF if both parents are
carriers?

PATTERNS OF GENETIC DISEASE INHERITANCE

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PEDIGREE CHARTS

A tool in genetics to identify the alleles you have. It's like a genetic family tree.

Q: Can you determine everyone’s genotype in the following pedigree?

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PATTERNS IN PEDIGREES

Recessive:

Dominant:

FACTORS THAT INCREASE MUTATIONS

Mutagens: any ___________ (thing) that is known to cause mutations in DNA

 ex:
o o
o o
o o
o

Carcinogen: any ____________ causing agent

 ex:
o o
o o
o o

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  carcinogens are mutagens that specifically affect a cell’s ability to _______________ itself
o causes cells to lose control and divide rapidly → these out-of-control cells are
cancer.

BENEFICIAL MUTATIONS - EVOLUTION

Mutations occasionally create an advantage for an individual → we call these mutations

“_______________________”
 ex. rabbits with white fur
o adaptation is good for the arctic
 Eventually a species can change drastically through "___________________________________"
o survival of the fittest
o only giraffes with long necks survived, now all giraffes have long necks
o _________________________ came up with natural selection
Resistance in Bacteria: example of beneficial mutation for the bacteria.
 antibiotics are known to kill bacteria, but mutations in bacteria have led to antibiotic-
resistant bacteria.
 the more doctors
prescribe antibiotics,
the more resistant
bacteria types are
created
 bacteria with new genes
for antibiotic resistance
can actually transfer
their genes to other
bacteria in a process
known as
________________________
o _______________ often
get exchanged between
bacteria
o plasmids are also self-
replicating

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REVIEW
1. Sickle cell anemia is an autosomal recessive
genetic disease. The impaired gene causes red
blood cells to be produced that are shrunken
sickle shapes rather than the normal round disc
shapes. These deformed red blood cells can block
narrow blood vessels. People with two recessive
sickle cell alleles become very ill and often die
while they are very young. Most people who suffer
from sickle cell anemia or carry the recessive gene tend to be from areas affected by
malaria, which is a deadly disease carried by mosquitoes. The malaria parasite reproduces
inside a person’s red blood cells. People who are carriers of one of the mutated sickle cell
anemia alleles actually have an advantage over non-carriers—they are resistant to malaria.
This accounts for the fact that this allele is more common in people from areas affected by
malaria.

a. Use a Punnett square to show the probable results of the cross between two people
who are heterozygous for the sickle cell trait (𝑆𝑠 × 𝑆𝑠) and are malaria resistant.

b. List the possible genotypes of the children from this couple.

c. State the probability of a child of this couple being resistant to malaria.

d. State the probability of a child of this couple developing sickle cell anemia.

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 e. Explain why the sickle cell anemia allele is more common in areas infected with
malaria.

2. Queen Victoria of England was a carrier of the sex-linked genetic disease called hemophilia.
Victoria had many children, but only one of them developed hemophilia. Several of her
children married into other European royal families and passed on Victoria’s hemophilia
allele. The most famous case of hemophilia was Victoria’s great-grandson Alexei, the heir to
the Russian throne. The controversial historical figure Rasputin gained influence with the
Russian royal family by claiming to be able to heal Alexis’ hemophilia. Study the pedigree of
Queen Victoria’s descendants.

a. The royal family’s ancestry is well documented. There is no history of hemophilia in

any of Queen Victoria’s ancestors. Explain how you think the hemophilia defect
appeared in her genes.

b. Explain why the individuals with hemophilia in this pedigree are all males.

c. Why are question marks written on some of Queen Victoria’s female descendants?

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A.2.5 - GENETIC TECHNOLOGIES

TRANSGENICS AND GENE THERAPY

Scientists noticed how easily bacteria can gain new abilities by exchanging _______________.
Scientists used this to develop __________________
Transgenics: involves __________________ a
human gene into a bacteria or animal using
plasmids
 ex. the insulin producing gene in
humans has been put in a plasmid and
placed into bacteria.
o These bacteria now produce
insulin
 a type of selective breeding that
doesn’t need to be _______________
______________ and involves scientists
altering specific DNA
 the resulting organism is known as a
________________ _________________
_________________ or GMO
o transgenics or gene therapy

Gene Therapy: ______________ a desired gene in

someone "healthy" and ____________ the non-
functioning gene in a "donor”
 You can't just inject DNA and expect it to
become part of the donor's DNA.
 Scientists put the desired gene into a
_________ and then inject into the donor
o the virus _____________ the modified DNA
into every cell if comes into contact with
 ex: Bubbly Baby
o Salsabil had a non-functioning gene for the
production of ADA, an enzyme responsible
for the production of T-cells and B-cells.
o as a result they cannot produce antibodies
and therefore have no
_________________________

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 o Kids with this disorder (SCID - severe combined immunodeficiency) are kept in
plastic bubbles to avoid getting sick.
o Often, they could be treated with a ______________________ transplant, but Salsabil
had no matching donor's
o Instead, doctors extracted some of Salsabil's bone marrow, exposed it to a virus
containing the correct gene. They gave Salsabil a treatment of chemotherapy which
wiped out remaining bone marrow cells, then they reintroduced her new bone
marrow cells.
o The same process is often used to cure Cystic Fibrosis (CF)

DNA FINGERPRINTING

A useful technique in ______________ investigations

 It involves collecting
________ from a crime
scene and from
suspects
 The DNA is isolated
and by DNA
________________ it
gets stretched out.
o A voltage
makes DNA
stretch from +
to -
 A _______ is added that
only colours certain
genes
 Only useful if there are
_____________, there is
no database with everyone’s DNA fingerprints
o However, past ________________ do have their DNA fingerprint stored in a database

REVIEW
1. Explain why a person who receives gene therapy will not pass on to her offspring the
repaired gene that has been inserted into her cells by a virus.

27
2. A sample of biological material was left at a crime scene. The DNA from this sample was
isolated and a DNA fingerprint was created. The three crime suspects all volunteered to let
their DNA be taken, and a DNA
fingerprint was created for each person.
Compare the unique banding pattern
produced for each suspect to identify
the suspect who was at the crime scene.
This information can be seen in “DNA
Fingerprint Patterns.”

3. Match the following terms with the example that best describes each term.
• transgenics
• recombinant DNA
• genetic modification
• gene therapy
• DNA fingerprinting
a. A farmer uses a plastic bag to collect pollen from his fastest-growing corn plants
and then sprinkles some pollen on the corn silk of his most disease-resistant corn
plants. He collects the seeds produced from this cross-pollination and grows his
next crop from these seeds.

b. Enzymes are used to cut up DNA left at a crime scene, and then the DNA is run
through a gel. The distinctive pattern of bands produced is used to compare with
the patterns of suspects in the crime.

c. A modified virus is used to deliver a non-defective version of the gene that causes
cystic fibrosis in body cells.

d. A researcher uses enzymes to cut some human DNA into smaller pieces and then
uses different enzymes to splice the DNA into a bacterial plasmid. The new DNA is a
combination of bacterial DNA and human DNA.

e. A gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) produces a protein with
insecticidal properties. The bacterial gene is isolated and spliced into the DNA of a
cotton plant. When the cotton plant is grown, it produces the bacterial insecticide.

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