Bio 181, Fall 2005

 

Learning Objectives for Chapter 19

The Organization and Control of Eukaryotic Genomes

 

Understand and be able to use the following terms:

nucleosome

histones

heterochromatin

euchromatin

repetitive (satellite) DNA

alu elements

transposons

cellular differentiation

DNA methylation

genomic imprinting

histone acetylation

transcriptional control

control elements

enhancers

DNA-binding domain

repressors

activators

alternative RNA splicing

oncogenes

proto-oncogenes

tumor suppressor genes

ras

p53

apoptosis

 

  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.
  5. Define differentiation and describe the role of expression in cellular differentiation.
  6. What is the principle mechanism of regulation of gene expression?
  7. Explain how DNA methylation and histone acetylation affects chromatin structure and the regulation of transcription.
  8. Explain the potential role that promoters, enhancers, activators, and repressors play in transcriptional control.
  9. Describe the process of alternative splicing, and its role in gene expression.
  10. Describe factors that influence the lifetime of mRNA in the cytoplasm. Compare the longevity of mRNA in prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
  11. Explain how gene expression may be controlled at the translational and post-translational level.
  12. Be able to summarize all the ways in which gene expression can be controlled.
  13. Distinguish between proto-oncogenes and oncogenes.
  14. Describe how tumor-suppressor genes can contribute to cancer.
  15. Desribe the roles of Ras and p53 in human cancer.
  16. Describe the set of genetic factors typically associated with the development of cancer (multistep model of cancer).
  17. Explain how viruses can cause cancer. Describe several examples.
  18. Give examples of carcinogens.
  19. Explain how inherited cancer alleles can lead to a predisposition to certain cancers.
  20. Describe the structure and functions of the portions of eukaryotic DNA that do not encode protein or RNA.
  21. Give a general explanation for how genomes evolve.