Semester 2 Final Exam Study Guide
Unit 1: Molecular Genetics
Related Textbook Chapters: 10.1,10.3,10.4; 11.4; pg. 342-343; 12.2-12.3; All of Chapter 13
Topics:
DNA
- Be able to label the parts of DNA and the name for the structure.
- Know the 3 scientists who discovered this structure.
- Understand the 3 parts of a nucleotide
- Know the 4 nitrogen bases and know which are purines, and which are pyrimidines
- What types of bonds hold together a base pair?
- Understand Chargaff’s rule:
- Where is DNA in the eukaryotic cell?
- Describe the process of “DNA replication”.
- What makes up the “backbone” of DNA?
- What makes up the “rungs” of DNA?
RNA
- Understand the differences between DNA and RNA.
- Know the 3 types of RNA, their definition, and what they look like.
- What is a codon?
- Describe the process of “RNA transcription”.
Translation
- Understand that there are 20 amino acids, and 64 codons
- What are we trying to build in translation?
- Know how to use the amino acid chart.
- Know what an anticodon is.
- Know where translation takes place.
Mutations
- Know the 3 gene mutations and the 4 chromosomal mutations.
- Know what a mutagen is.
- Understand what causes a “frameshift mutation” and what that means for the rest of the strand.
Mitosis
- Understand that 1 parent cell will produce 2 daughter cells with identical chromosomes to the parent cell.
- Understand the obstacles a cell faces as it gets larger.
- Know what would happen if a cell’s DNA was not copied correctly during S phase.
- What is cancer? And what organisms does it affect?
- Know the functions of Mitosis
Meiosis
- Know that Meiosis makes gametes
- Know the difference between diploid and haploid?
- What is a zygote
- What is crossing over?
- Know what meiosis produces.
- Understand why meiosis reduces the number of chromosomes.
- Explain how and why most eukaryotic genes are regulated
Essential Questions:
- How are proteins formed?
- How are proteins affected by mutations?
- What are sources of mutation?
- How does meiosis lead to genetic variation?
- What is the function of mitosis in multicellular organisms?
- What is the function of meiosis in multicellular organisms?
- What are the differences between mitosis and meiosis?
- What happens when the process of cell division goes awry?
- How does cell specialization and differentiation create complex organisms?
- How are genes regulated in multicellular organisms?
- How does DNA get its shape?
Unit 2: Inheritance
Related Textbook Chapters: Chapter 11 (except 11.4) and 14.1-14
Topics:
Introduction to Genetics and Probability
- Understand that genes can be inherited but only occasionally show.
- Be able to describe the phenotype from genotype
- Be able to give the possible genotypes from phenotype
Monohybrid Crosses
- When and why does crossing over occur?
- What does crossing over do for an individual? For a population?
- Understand homozygous dominant, homozygous recessive, and heterozygous
- Know the Principle of Dominance
- Know the Principle of Segregation
- Be able to use a Punnett square to determine the chance of an offspring inheriting a certain allele.
- Be able to interpret the results of a Punnett square (both genotypically and phenotypically)
- Understand how genetic ratios also show the genotypic and phenotypic results.
Types of Dominance
- Know what pattern the offspring will look like in incomplete dominance and codominance
- Be able to do Punnett squares crossing these inheritance patterns.
Two Factor Crosses
- Be able to FOIL parent alleles onto a Punnett square
- Know how to complete a Punnett square for a two-factor cross.
- Know how to interpret a two-factor cross Punnett square by reporting genotypic and phenotypic results.
- Understand how to calculate the phenotypic ratio for a two-factor cross
- Know Mendel’s law of Independent Assortment.
Genetic Tools
- Know that skin color, eye color, and height are examples of polygenic traits.
- Be able to trace a gene through a pedigree using Punnett squares.
- What are the uses of a pedigree?
- How many chromosomes are shown on a normal human karyotype?
Blood Types
- Know that Blood types follow a multiple allele inheritance pattern.
- Know the genotypes for the different blood types
- Be able to do Punnett squares for blood types and report results
Sex-linked Genes
- Male chromosomes: XY
- Female chromosomes: XX
- Know that 50% of human sperm carry an “X” and 50% carry a “Y”.
- Be able to explain why sex-linked genes are usually passed from mother to son.
- Be able to do Punnett squares for sex-linked genes and report results.
Essential Questions:
- Why do individuals of the same species vary in how they look, function, and behave?
- How does sexual reproduction lead to genetic variation?
- What is the relationship between dominant and recessive forms of an allele?
- How is probability used to predict the expression of traits?
- How does genotype affect phenotype?
- How does a Punnett Square accurately predict offspring outcomes?
- What is a Karyotype? What can it be used for?
- What is non-disjunction? How can it affect offspring?
- What is a pedigree? What can it be used for?
Unit 3: Common Ancestry & Diversity
Related Textbook Chapters: 16.1; pg. 454-455; 16.4; 18.2; 19.3
Topics:
Earth’s History
- Know how old the Earth is
- Name the 4 eras that we organize geological time into.
- Understand what a Geologic Time Scale (timeline) is used for.
- What was the earliest life on Earth?
- Describe how oxygen ended up on planet Earth
- Revise the photosynthesis equation and understand what bacteria need to do photosynthesis and what they produce from the reaction.
- Now that life has colonized land, what organisms are doing photosynthesis to provide oxygen for the earth?
- Early earth did not have nutrient-rich soil. So how did microbes (bacteria) aid the evolution of plants onto land?
Origins of Life
- Know the difference between hypothesis, theory, and law.
- Understand what Urey and Miller did.
- Know what the first life was, and how long ago it formed.
- Understand the difference between Spontaneous Generation and Biogenesis, and the history (story) behind both ideas.
Evidences of Evolution
- Know the difference between homologous and analogous structures (including the pictures of each).
- What do homologous structures show?
- What do vestigial structures show?
- Know why embryology is a good indicator of evolution.
- How can scientists use amino acid sequences to show common ancestry?
Cladograms
- Know how to read/analyze a cladogram.
- Know the parts of a cladogram (node, branch, groups, common ancestor, derived characteristics)
- Be able to tell how closely related two groups are on a cladogram based on their placement.
- Be able to identify where the most recent common ancestor is between groups.
Essential Questions:
- What is the difference between a theory and a hypothesis?
- How did photosynthesis create the atmosphere we have today?
- How did increased O2 alter life on Earth?
- How does increasing CO2 levels alter Earth’s processes?
- How did early microbes alter the environment?
- What is our current theory on which type of organisms were the earliest to evolve?
- What evidence is there for evolution and common ancestry?
- How many separate times do scientists believe life began on Earth?
Unit 4: Mechanisms of Evolution
Related Textbook Chapters: 16.2-16.3; 17.1-17.3; 19.2
Topics:
Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection
- Who is Lamarck? What was his theory?
- What did Darwin’s theory suggest? How was this different than Lamarck’s?
- Know Darwin’s 5 Principles of Natural Selection.
- Know the definition of natural selection.
- What happens when individuals produce more offspring then there are limited resources?
- Know the difference between artificial selection and natural selection.
- Be able to explain how Darwin’s finches display adaptive radiation.
Adaptations
- Know what an adaptation is, and be able to give an example of an animal with one.
- Know what antibiotic resistance is, how it occurs, and what the consequences are if it continues.
Mechanisms of Evolution
- Be able to identify the three natural selection graphs: directional, stabilizing, and disruptive.
- Understand how mutations can become more frequent in a population.
- What is geographic isolation? And how does it keep two populations from reproducing?
- What is temporal isolation?
- What is behavioral isolation?
- How do homologous structures show divergent evolution?
- How do analogous structures show convergent evolution?
- Which combination of characteristics in populations provides the greatest potential for evolution?
- How do you maintain genetic equilibrium? What does Hardy-Weinberg say must happen to keep genetic equilibrium?
- What type of population experiences the greatest potential for evolutionary change?
Essential Questions:
- What is the relationship between natural selection and genetic variation?
- How do expressed traits account for differences in individuals?
- What factors interact to drive evolution?
- How does the physical environment affect species survival?
- Why do species become extinct?
- Why do populations, not individuals, evolve?
- What is the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?