Download GENETICS

A BRIEF
INTRODUCTION to
GENETICS
Honors Genetics
Lemon Bay High School
Ms. Susan Chabot
THE BEGINNING…
• Domestication of plants
and animals inadvertently
manipulated sexual
reproduction.
• Preformation: Theory
that a miniature human
(homunculus) could be
found inside the head of a
sperm.
Paris, 1694
THE BEGINNING…
Darwin and Evolution
•1859: Origin of the Species
•Ideas of natural selection
supported hereditary passage
of desirable/undesirable traits.
THE BEGINNING…
• 1860’s: Gregor Mendel - an Austrian
monk grew peas in the monastery
gardens.
• Noticed patterns among the generations
of plants when they were crosspollinated vs self-pollinated.
What We Know Today
Every type of cell from every
kingdom contains DNA.
Sometimes the DNA is
located in the NUCLEUS
of the cell as in
EUKARYOTES
Sometimes the DNA is NOT
located in the NUCLEUS of
the cell as in PROKARYOTES
Whether the organism is a
EUKARYOTE or PROKARYOTE,
the DNA instructs the cell to make proteins.
The proteins are made into tissues , pigments,
hormones, enzymes, and many other
components the cells need for survival.
Mitosis and HeLa
Visualizing Mitosis
Mutations
Mistakes happen
Mutagens
 Cause mutations
 Pesticides
 Air pollution
 Chemicals
 Smoking
 Radiation
 Sun
 X-ray exposure
 Fallout
We Can Manipulate DNA
•Recombinant DNA:
•Cutting the DNA from one organism and
joining it with the DNA from another
•Human gene for insulin into bacteria:
bacteria multiply and make insulin for
diabetics
Insulin gene
Genetic Engineering
CLONING:
Dolly the sheep: insert the
nucleus from the body cell of
an adult sheep into the egg cell
of another similar animal and
allow to gestate.
Genetic Engineering
•Fertility:
• Inserting sperm nucleus into ovum to
fertilize them for an infertile couple, then
allow to gestate.
Genetic Engineering
Foods
• Insertion of pesticide genes into foods so
that they will make proteins that will
develop innate resistance to weeds and
insects.