19. Genomics

What can be learned from comparing the genomes of distantly related species, such as yeast and humans or plants and fruit flies?

Multigene families arise as a result of __________.

The eukaryotic genome is much less tidy and compact than the genomes of prokaryotes. Eukaryotes, but not prokaryotes, have __________.

The human genome is thought to contain about how many genes?

How do shotgun techniques differ from previous sequencing methodologies?

Why might the number of genes in eukaryotic genomes underestimate the number of different proteins that an organism makes?

What tool or resource is useful for identifying previously unknown protein-coding genes in a genomic DNA sequence?

How do transposable elements promote genetic diversity in a population?

What factor accounts most for the difference in genome size between vertebrates and prokaryotes?

Who discovered "jumping genes" (transposons)?

A gene family has been identified that has undergone extensive duplication in humans but is present in only one or a few copies in other primates or other mammals. What experimental approaches could be used to determine the function of this gene and its significance in human evolution?

Scientists have succeeded in sequencing the Neanderthal genome with DNA extracted from Neanderthal bones. Information from this project might reveal __________.

There is about 1,000 times as much DNA in a human cell as in an E. coli cell but only about 5 times as many genes. What accounts for this discrepancy?

Detailed comparison of the human and chimpanzee genomes has revealed that __________.

Evolution can rapidly alter a protein-coding gene so it encodes a protein with a different structure and function through __________.