IB1091028 Insects and genetics
April 2, 2010, Pages 30-35
1. Match the name of the individual with the concept he conceived or popularized:
a. Francis Galton 3.
1. Uniformitarianism
b. Charles Lyell 1.
2. Theory of natural selection
c. Thomas Malthus 4.
3. Law of filial regression
d. Charles Darwin 2.
4. Populations outgrow food supply
e. Alfred Russell Wallace 5. 5. Tendency of varieties to depart from original type
f. Walter Flemming 6.
6. Mitosis
2. The process by which those individuals with heritable traits conferring survival produce more
offspring than do individuals lacking such traits is called natural selection.
3. Describe 2 entomological phenomena Darwin used to illustrate the action of natural selection.
Crypsis, Homotypism, Winglessness on islands, mimicry
4. Describe 2 entomological phenomena that Darwin had difficulty explaining in "Origin of Species."
Neuter caste of eusocial insects, fairyflies, firefly laterns
5. Mendel's law of segregation states that alternative forms of a particular factor (gene) remain discrete
during the reproductive process; his second law, the law of independent assortment, states that different
factors are inherited independently of one another.
6. Who was Thomas Hunt Morgan? Pioneering geneticist who established Drosophila melanogaster as
a model organism.
7. The "fruit fly" Drosophila melanogaster is more correctly known as the pomace or vinegar fly.
8. Give 4 reasons why Drosophila melanogaster is an excellent organism for genetic studies.
l. Short generation time 2 small size 3. Phenotypically variable 4. Only 4 chromosomes 5. Simple diet
9. What's a sex-linked gene? A gene that is located on a sex chromosome (X or Y in Humans and
Drosophila)
Give an example of a mutation involving a sex-linked gene in Drosophila melanogaster. Eye color (the
white eye mutation is only expressed in males).
10. Match the term with the definition
a. gene 6.
1. change in a gene, either in DNA sequence or location
b. locus 3.
2. physical appearance of an organism
c. allele 5.
3. location of a gene on a chromosome
d. mutation 1.
4. genetic make-up of an organism
e. genotype 4.
5. alternative state of a gene or trait
f. phenotype 2.
6. segment of DNA on a chromosome coding for a protein or RNA
g. chromosome 7.
7. group of coiled DNA strands containing genes
9. genome 8.
8. entire DNA complement of an organism
11. The two scientists who first described the structure of DNA as a double helix were
a. Beadle and Tatum
b. Hershey and Chase
c. Watson and Crick
d. Nirenbeg and Khorana
12. How many nucleotide bases make up DNA?
Which are purines? Adenine and guanine
Which are pyrimidines? Thymine and cytosine
13. What is the "central dogma" of biology? DNA encodes RNA which encodes protein
14. What does "PCR" stand for? How does it work? Polymerase Chain Reaction. It amplifies a single
molecule of DNA millions of times.
15. True or false: Transposable elements are very rare in Drosophila melanogaster.
16. Which of the following is an insect transposon?
a. hermes
b. Herves
c. woot
d. all of the above
Which of the following transposons was isolated from a Drosophila speces?
a. mariner
b. Minos
d. hobo
d. all of the above
17. What's a transcription factor? Master switch protein. A gene that encodes a protein that turns other
genes on or off (not an enzyme).
18.What species was genetically engineered to be incapable of vectoring malaria in 2007?.Anopheles
stephensi
19. When was the Drosophila melanogaster genome sequenced? 2000
Who sequenced it? Combination of public genome project and private company Celera (run by Craig
Venter).
How many genes does the genome contain? 13,500
20. A transcriptome involves:
a. DNA
b. RNA
c. protein
d. All of the above
21. Name two UIUC faculty members who are involved in the honey bee genome project:
a Dr. Gene Robinson b. Dr. Hugh Robertson
22. What tool developed at UIUC being used to investigate Colony Collapse Disorder? Whole genome
microarray of Apis mellifera
23. Name two insects other than Drosophila melanogaster that have been sequenced:
a. Bombyx mori b. Tribolium cataneum c. Apis mellifera d. Aedes aegypti
24. Rhodnius prolixus. Genome is also being sequenced:
a. What order does this insect belong to? Hemiptera
b. What organism does this insect vector? Trypanosoma cruzi
c. What disease is associated with this insect? Chagas disease
25. How can genetic engineering help to reduce the incidence of malaria? Transgenic mosquitoes can
be engineered to be resistant to malaria movement from the midgut to the salivary glands
Aside from technical obstacles, what other obstacles might stand in the way of using genetic engineering
for malaria management? Generating public support for releasing transgenic mosquitoes.