Things to Know for Exam 1

Chapters 1-4, plus 5.1 and 5.2 (up to page 165)

  1. You should know how to do ALL of the homework problems.
  2. Meiosis and Mitosis: you should completely understand how chromosome assort during meiosis and mitosis. You should be able to draw diagrams of chromosomes during various phases of meiosis. You should be able to determine the gametes that can be produced by any genotype.
  3. Simple Mendelian inheritance: you should be able to predict the offspring phenotypes from a cross with 1 to 3 segregating genes. You should understand how 3:1 and 9:3:3:1 ratios are produced. You should be able to show how to predict offspring genotypes and phenotypes using either a branch diagram or a Punnett square.
  4. Probability: you should know how to combine probabilities for independent traits (multiplication and addition rules)
  5. Pedigrees: You should be able to deduce the probable mode of gene action (dominant, recessive, X-linked, etc) from inheritance patterns in pedigrees. You should be able to draw a simple pedigree given a verbal description.
  6. X linked inheritance: you should be able to predict offspring phenotypes for X-linked traits.
  7. Chromosome structure: you should know the basic structure of chromatin and how genes are arranged on chromosomes.
  8. Linked genes: You should be able to test for linkage among loci. You should be able to determine the map distance between pairs of loci, given data from two-point or three-point crosses. You should be able to predict offspring phenotypes given the map distances between loci. You should be able to draw those linked genes on chromosomes during meiosis.
  9. Tetrad analysis: You should know how to determine the distance from a gene to the centromere using ordered tetrads.
  10. Chi square tests: You should know the Chi-square formula and how to determine the degrees of freedom. You should know what "p<0.05" means. You should be able to test whether observed offspring numbers differ significantly from the predicted proportions (3:1 or 1:1, etc). You should be able to use a chi-square test of independence for two genes.
  11. Bacterial genetics: You should understand bacterial conjugation and the role of F+ and Hfr strains of E. coli. You should know how interrupted mating experiments are used to map genes by time-of-entry. You should be able to design an interrupted mating experiment to map genes.