SBI4U1
Molecular Genetics
Test Outline
Date: Friday, May 15th Per.1
Test Format:
Part 1: 10 Multiple Choice Questions
10 Matching Terms Questions
Part 2: Short Answer Questions
Part 3: Labelling a diagram
Part 4: Short essay/paragraph (Choose 1 of 3 topics)
Topics to study:
Molecular Genetics Intro- Chemical differences between DNA & RNA; Differences in
genetic structure between prokaryotes and eukaryotes; Key experiments that helped
reveal the nature of the Central Dogma (Hershey-Chase (Genetics- Protein or DNA?),
Chargaff’s Rule (Complementary Pairings), Watson & Crick (Double Helix), Meselson &
Stahl (Replication Models), Beadle & Tatum (One Gene/One Polypeptide), Frank
Sanger/Jacob & Monod (nature of mRNA),
DNA Replication- reasons for…, theoretical models (conservative, semi-conservative,
dispersive), replication machinery: helicase, topoisomerase, SSBP’s, DNA polymerase
I,II &III, ligase, RNA primase and primers etc., stages of replication (initiation,
elongation, termination), key terminology- Okazaki fragments, replication forks and
bubbles, leading and lagging strands; errors in replication- mispairings and strand
slippage; error detection and repair- DNA polymerase II, mismatch repair; Comparison
of replication between prokaryotes and eukaryotes; telomerase and telomeres.
Gene Expression- What is the difference between genomes, genes, regulating
proteins, and traits?; the triplet hypothesis; the genetic code; the Central Dogma
Transcription- Types of RNA; sense/antisense strands; Stages of… Initiation,
Elongation, Termination-associated enzymes and proteins, e.g., RNA polymerase,
promoter/coding regions, differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic transcription
(immature and mature mRNA), 5’ caps and poly-A tails
Translation- Translation machinery (mRNA, ribosomes, tRNA, rRNA etc.); the nature of
tRNA; mRNA vs tRNA; Stages (initiation- ribosome assembly, elongation- A/P/E sites,
termination)
Mutations- Types: Point mutations- silent, missense, non-sense; Frame shifts;
Chromosomal mutations; mutagens and DNA repair; benefits of…
Gene Regulation- Constitutive genes, Promoters, Operators, TATA box, Operons, Lac
Operon, Eukaryotic gene regulation: Levels of Control 1) pre-transcriptional; 2)
transcriptional; 3) post-transcriptional; 4) translational, and; 5) post translational.
Applications- DNA fingerprinting; Cloning; Stem cells; GMO’s