ANTH 021 STUDY GUIDE #1 SPRING 2012 The following study guide is designed to help you review for

exam 1. It contains questions and general topics that you should be familiar with. Think critically about what we have discussed in lectures and sections you should be able to explain the concepts we have discussed to a friend, be able to diagram some of the processes discussed (transcription, translation, and PCR to name a few), and be able to compare and contrast the different ideas and processes that we have gone over (i.e., adaptation, inheritance, and evolution). IMPORTANT CONCEPTS Science What is the scientific method? What are some important characteristics of the scientific method? Is creationism testable? How does it stand up to the scientific method? What are the different ways that we learned to plot data in graphs? Be prepared to identify and name some of these graph types (e.g., time series, scatter plots, histograms, stem-leaf plots, contour maps, pedigrees, and Punnett squares). Pre-Darwinian thought Who was one of the main proponents of catastrophism? What is catastrophism anyway? How does it differ from uniformatarianism? Can you explain the Lamarckian theory of inheritance? What are acquired characteristics? Using what you know about inheritance, why doesnt Lamarcks theory work? Darwin Describe the intellectual environment in which Charles Darwin lived. What other scientists influenced his thinking? What are the major principles of Darwins theory of natural selection? How might changes in the environment affect phenotypic variation? Review the process of natural selection in Darwins finches. Be familiar with the Grants research on the Galapogos finches and their findings. How were the finches observed to change over the years? How do we define fitness with respect to natural selection? What role has been identified for the BMP4 gene in affecting finch beak form? What are the six major sources of evidence that support Darwins theory? How does creationism and Lamarcks transformationism stand up against these data? Explain the significance of the following fossils: Archaeopteryx, Tiktaalik, and Ambulocetus. What are some examples of homology? What are some examples of analogy? Adaptive convergence? What are some examples of vestigial traits? Why are these traits powerful evidence for evolution? Be familiar with the distinctive features of evolution discussed in lecture. In section one week we analyzed some quantitative (polygenic) traits. What are polygenic traits? How do they differ from Mendelian traits? What are some examples of phenotypes resulting from polygenic traits and what is their distinctive feature?

Mendelian Genetics and Cell Processes Who was this guy Mendel? What are his two major principles of heredity? And how to these compare and contrast? What does a phenotypic ratio refer to? What is a genotypic ratio? Be able to complete a Punnett Square for Mendelian traits, X-linked traits, and for two traits at a time. How many chromosomes do humans have? How many chromosomes do the other apes have? Why do they come in pairs? What is the significance of sex chromosomes? Compare and contrast somatic cells with germ cells (i.e., sex cells or gametes) in terms of chromosome number. Review the cell processes meiosis and mitosis. In which cells do these processes occur? Which process is more important from an evolutionary standpoint? What do we mean by dominant, recessive, and X-linked traits? Who is more likely to be affected by an X-linked recessive trait? Males or females? Why? What is the significance of linkage and recombination in terms of DNA replication? If two traits are linked, are they more or less likely to be inherited together? Molecular Genetics What is the structure of DNA? Bases, base pairing, double helix, 5 to 3 enzyme actions, etc. What are the basic properties of DNA? Melting, reannealing, etc. Understand the functions of major cell components involved in DNA replication, transcription and translation and how polymerases function to facilitate these. Review the processes of transcription, translation, and replication (remember replication occurs during mitosis and meiosis). Review the process of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and know why thermocycling is critical for this reaction. Know the difference between polymorphic Alu insertions, SNPs, and short tandem repeats (STRs) and how these can be assayed using the PCR. What are restriction enzymes? Given a DNA sequence, be able to identify the nucleotide and/or amino acid sequences produced during replication, transcription and translation. How do DNA and RNA differ? What is mRNA? What is tRNA? What is the universal code? What are mitochondria? And where is the mtDNA in the cell? What are exons and introns? Where would a mutation more likely have an observable effect? What is The Central Dogma? Contrast structural with regulatory genes. What are introns, exons, and promoters? Compare and contrast the significance of different types of mutations discussed in lecture. What are the possible consequences of mutation? Phylogeny What does a phylogenetic tree represent? What do the nodes represent? What types of traits are used to construct phylogenetic trees? 2

NOTE: You do not need to memorize all the particular details of the diseases discussed in class or the dates of specific scientists or whether they were communist etc. HOWEVER, you should know the examples given in class.

Practical Exam Questions: Example 1: Given the following DNA template strand: 3-AAT CAT GCA TGC-5 What is the mRNA transcript? What are the tRNA anticodons? How would a deletion in the first nucleotide base (A) change the tRNA anticodons? Example 2: A woman with normal color vision, but whose father was colorblind, marries a man with normal color vision. What is the probability that they have a child who is colorblind? A. 0 B. C. D. E. 1 What sex would this colorblind child be? A. Male. B. Female. C. Male or female. D. They would not have a colorblind child. E. There is insufficient information to answer this question. Example 3: Mendels Principle of Segregation states that: A. One allele is dominant over another. B. Most DNA is noncoding. C. DNA is the genetic material of all cells. D. Only one chromosome of each pair is passed from a parent to an offspring. E. Genes on the Y chromosome will be passed only from father to son.

ANSWERS EXAMPLE 1 mRNA: UUA GUA CGU ACG/tRNA: AAU CAU GCA UGC/Deletion: AUC AUG CAU GC... EXAMPLE 2 B, A EXAMPLE 3 D