The Structure of Eukaryotic Chromatin
1.
Compare the structure and organization of prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes.
2.
Describe the current model for progressive levels of DNA packing.
3.
Explain how histones influence folding in eukaryotic DNA.
4.
Distinguish between heterochromatin and euchromatin.
Genome Organization at the DNA Level
5.
Describe the structure and functions of the portions of eukaryotic DNA that do not encode protein or
RNA.
6.
Define and distinguish between the three types of satellite DNA.
7.
Explain how tandemly repeated nucleotide triplets can lead to human disease.
8.
Describe the role of telomeres and centromeres.
9.
Describe the structure and proportion of interspersed repetitive DNA.
10. Using the genes for rRNA as an example, explain how multigene families of identical genes can be
advantageous for a cell.
11. Using alpha-globin and beta-globin genes as examples, describe how multigene families of
nonidentical genes probably evolve; include the role of transposition in your description.
12. Define pseudogenes.
13. Describe the process and significance of gene amplification.
14. Define and explain the significance of transposons and retrotransposons.
15. Explain how genetic recombination during development results in millions of different kinds of
antibody molecules.
The Control of Gene Expression
16. Define differentiation and describe at what level gene expression is generally controlled.
17. Explain how DNA methylation and histone acetylation affects chromatin structure and the regulation
of transcription.
18. Describe the eukaryotic processing of pre-mRNA.
19. Define control elements and explain how they influence transcription.
20. Explain the potential role that promoters, enhancers, activators, and repressors play in transcriptional
control.
21. Describe the two basic structural domains of transcription factors.
22. Explain how eukaryotic genes can be coordinately expressed and give some examples of coordinate
gene expression in eukaryotes.
23. Describe the process of alternative splicing.
24. Describe factors that influence the lifetime of mRNA in the cytoplasm. Compare the longevity of
mRNA in prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
25. Explain how gene expression may be controlled at the translational and post-translational level.
The Molecular Biology of Cancer
26. Distinguish between proto-oncogenes and oncogenes. Describe three genetic changes that can
convert proto-oncogenes to oncogenes.
27. Explain how mutations in tumor-suppressor genes can contribute to cancer.
28. Explain how excessive cell division can result from mutations in the ras oncogenes.
29. Explain why a mutation knocking out the p53 gene can lead to excessive cell growth and cancer.
Describe three ways that p53 prevents a cell from passing on mutations caused by DNA damage.
30. Describe the set of genetic factors typically associated with the development of cancer.
31. Explain how viruses can cause cancer. Describe several examples.
32. Explain how inherited cancer alleles can lead to a predisposition to certain cancers.