Biology-1Study Guide for the Final Lab Exam

Mitosis/Meiosis

  • What is mitosis? meiosis? How many daughter cells does each process produce, what are the characteristics of the daughter cells? What are the major events of each phase?
  • What is cytokinesis?
  • What are spindle fibers?
  • How many chromosomes in somatic cells versus sex cells?
  • If given a diploid number you should be able to determine the number of homologous pairs, #’s of autosomes, sex chromosomes, etc.
  • What are homologous chromosomes? Centromeres? sister chromatids?
  • In which phase of meiosis can genetic variation increase and through what process?

Nucleic Acids

  • What are the major differences between DNA and RNA
  • What is a nucleotide? Difference between a DNA/RNA nucleotide.
  • What is meant by semiconservative DNA replication?
  • What are the base pairing rules? What is a pyrimidine? Purine?
  • What types of chemical bonds hold the DNA double strand together? What types of bonds hold the nitrogenous bases together?

Transformation

  • What is transformation? Which organism did we attempt to transform? What did we use to transform our specimen?
  • What types of considerations must one take when attempting to transform an organism? Think about whether it is easier to transform a single-celled or multicellular organism? Should you choose an organism that reproduces quickly or slowly?

DNA Fingerprinting

  • What is DNA fingerprinting?
  • What is a restriction enzyme and how does it function?
  • What is a restriction fragment and how is it produced?
  • What is gel electrophoresis and how did we use it to do RFLP analysis?
  • If two different samples of DNA are treated with the same restriction enzymes, what does it mean for those samples if they produce the same number and types of fragments? What does it mean for those DNA samples if they produce a different number and type of fragments?

Evolution

  • Know how to write the Hardy-Weinberg equation and how to use it to calculate genotype frequencies of the homozygous dominant, heterozygous and homozygous recessives.
  • Be able to determine the frequency of ‘q’ if ‘p’ is given (1-p=q)
  • What are the five evolutionary agents? You should know what the conditions are to change the allele frequencies of a population or to allow them to remain in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

Population Ecology

  • What is a population?
  • Be able to explain how Type I, II, and III survivorship curves are different.
  • Be able to identify Type I,II and III curves on a survivorship graph.
  • Be able to give at least two examples for organisms that are represented by each type of

survivorship curve.