Genetics Demystified, 1st Edition
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GENETICS DEMYSTIFIED
EDWARD WILLETT
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DOI: 10.1036/0071459308
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To my late grandparents, Roy Edward Spears, Laura Edwin Umstattd,
Ewan Chambers Willett, and Bessie Brown—thanks for the genes!
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CONTENTS
Preface xi
CHAPTER 1 Mendelism and Classical Genetics 1
Heredity Happens, but How? 1
The Scientific Monk 2
Mendel’s Experiments 3
Emerging Patterns 5
Extensions to Mendel’s Laws 8
Quiz 9
CHAPTER 2 The Cell—The Basic Unit of Life 11
Cell Theory 11
Animalcules and Nuclei 12
Schleiden and Schwann 12
Parts of the Cell 13
Counting Chromosomes 16
The Cell Cycle 17
Connecting Mendel with Chromosomes 20
Quiz 21
CHAPTER 3 DNA—The Chemical Basis of Heredity 23
The Race to Decipher DNA 24
The Double Helix 26
Replication of DNA 28
DNA Mutation and Repair 30
Quiz 31
vii
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER 4 Chromosomes—Organized DNA 33
The Fly Room 34
The Structure of the Chromosome 36
Linkage, Crossing Over, and
Chromosome Mapping 37
Quiz 40
CHAPTER 5 Traits—How Genes Are Expressed 43
Transcription 45
Translation 46
How Genes Are Regulated 48
From the Micro to the Macro 50
Quiz 51
CHAPTER 6 Genomes—Reading the Genetic Code 53
Sequencing Other Species 59
Genome Mapping 61
Genome Variation 63
Quiz 64
CHAPTER 7 Mutations—Misreading the Code 67
Types of Mutations 68
Causes of Mutations 74
Quiz 75
CHAPTER 8 Cancer—Genetics Gone Awry 77
What Is Cancer? 78
How Oncogenes Cause Cancer 81
Another Mutation That Causes Cancer 82
Carcinogens 84
Quiz 85
CHAPTER 9 Bacteria—A Different Way of Doing Things 89
Characteristics of Bacteria 89
DNA Replication and Cell Division 90
Bacterial Transcription and Translation 94
CONTENTS ix
Genetic Recombination of Bacteria 96
Regulation of Gene Activity in Bacteria 99
Quiz 101
CHAPTER 10 Organelles—Genetics Outside the Nucleus 103
Mitochondria 104
Chloroplasts 106
Organelle Inheritance 107
The Past Through Mitochondria 108
Quiz 110
CHAPTER 11 Viruses—Hijacking Heredity 113
What Is a Virus? 114
Bacteriophages 116
Eukaryotic Viruses 120
Quiz 123
CHAPTER 12 Genetic Engineering—Sculpting the Code 125
Restriction Enzymes 125
The First Experiments 127
Amplifying DNA 128
Modifying Proteins 134
Genetic Engineering of Animals 135
Genetic Engineering of Plants 138
Gene Therapy 139
Cloning 140
Concerns and Controversy 142
Quiz 143
CHAPTER 13 Evolution—Change Driven By Genetics 147
What Is Evolution? 147
Population Genetics 148
The Origin of Species 152
Phylogenetic Systematics 153
The Genetics of Human Evolution 158
Quiz 160
x CONTENTS
CHAPTER 14 Humans—How Genetics Affects Us 163
The Genetics of Sex 163
Genetic Diseases 167
RFLPs 169
Genetic Screening 172
Quiz 173
Final Exam 175
Answers to Quiz and Final Exam
Questions 189
Suggested Additional References 193
Further Reading 193
Web Sites 194
Glossary 195
Index 201
PREFACE
As a weekly science columnist, I try to stay at least peripherally aware of
research news from all over the world. It’s constantly fascinating and intriguing,
but also a little frustrating, because science is advancing so quickly on so many
fronts that more than once scientific beliefs I have confidently restated in writ-
ing have been overthrown, or at least cast into doubt, by new research—some-
times within weeks, once or twice almost before the newspaper ink dried.
Genetics is one of those fields advancing at a furious pace. If some of its
advances have recently cast into doubt some of the theories I’ve treated in this
book as well-established, I hope the reader will understand—and take that fact
as good reason to continue to study and follow this exciting, ever-changing (and
world-changing) area of scientific endeavor.
Learning new things is what I enjoy most about being a science writer. I hope
it’s also what you enjoy most about reading this book.
EDWARD WILLETT
xi
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GENETICS DEMYSTIFIED
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1
CHAPTER
Mendelism and
Classical Genetics
The concept of the gene came largely from the work of one man—an
Augustinian monk named Gregor Mendel.
Before Mendel conducted his groundbreaking experiments on pea plants in
the 1860s, everyone knew that offspring tended to inherit some characteristics of
their parents. You could hardly fail to notice something like that, since everyone
is, after all, an offspring, and many people are parents. But exactly how it hap-
pened was unknown.
Heredity Happens, but How?
This lack of knowledge about the mechanism of heredity hampered other areas
of science. For instance, in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, Charles
Darwin claimed that species of living things slowly changed—evolved—over
1
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