Questions tagged [genetics]
Genetics is the branch of biology that deals with the transmission and variation of inherited characteristics.
2,490
questions
1
vote
2
answers
203
views
What is the latest consensus on the causes of sexuality?
In 2019, scientists concluded that there is no gay gene. Epigentic markers of homosexuality have been disproven. The Exotic becomes Erotic Theory is an ancient decrepit idea that holds no water. Yet, ...
2
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Why does Meiosis produce 4 daughter cells instead of 2? Won't splitting the initial diploid cell into two haploid cells be easier?
At first, I thought it was because of crossing-over, but when I thought more about it, that didn't seem reasonable. Why don't cells just do meiosis like this? (I know that we don't understand all the ...
0
votes
1
answer
118
views
How many genes of an individual are homozygous?
We have 20000 to 25000 protein-coding genes. Considering an individual, how many of his\her protein-coding genes are homozygous? I am looking for an estimation of gene homozygosity ratio in human ...
0
votes
1
answer
176
views
Could someone explain how chromosomes are counted here?
I'm not sure how chromosomes are counted in this picture. I would reason that there would be 8 chromosomes in the diploid cell, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Could someone explain?
-2
votes
1
answer
55
views
Gene Sequencing [closed]
The human genome project took an effort of around 15 years, billions of dollars and thousands of scientists working together.
So how is that the genetic sequencing of covid variants could be done at ...
-4
votes
1
answer
66
views
What is the probability for an offspring to inherit schizophrenia? [closed]
If an European male (i.e. white) is diagnosed with schizophrenia, but an European female (also white) 2-3 years younger than the male is healthy, what is the probability that their first child will:
a)...
9
votes
0
answers
282
views
The village of Twins — Mystery behind and Scope
With the presence of more than 200 twins, Kodinhi , a village situated in Malappuram District in Kerala , India , is popularly known as the "Village of Twins".This phenomenon of large ...
3
votes
1
answer
990
views
Does DNA ligase have any role to play in replication on leading strand?
Actually I developed this doubt while solving some questions(they are poorly framed I suspect). According to my notes and my institute modules, 1 RNA primer is required on the leading strand as well ...
1
vote
1
answer
112
views
Method of determining base values of traits in isolated populations
Prelude: I came across a discussion about the correct formula for calculating the average IQ of offspring, which goes something like the following
$$ 100 + \frac35 \left( \left(\text{father's IQ} + \...
2
votes
2
answers
579
views
What is the difference between Haploinsufficient and Autosomal Dominant mutations
I have been reading a paper that classifies genes in different groups by the type of disease-causing mutations. The categories of mutations (alleles) it gives are:
Haploinsufficient
Autosomal ...
-1
votes
1
answer
61
views
What is an example of a benign or beneficial de novo copy number variation?
Duplication events in particular. In any species. Have enough genomes been sequenced and studied to identify any? It is rather easy to find studies which identify them with diseases but have they ever ...
0
votes
2
answers
107
views
Do ethnic groups differ in non-coding DNA?
There are services (23andme, AncestryDNA) that will associate an ethnic group to you from your spit. Could non-coding DNA in theory be useful for this goal i.e. are there statistically meaningful ...
2
votes
1
answer
109
views
Are coding DNA and invariant DNA independent as subsets of the human genome?
Within the human genome we can identify the coding DNA and the invariant DNA i.e. the DNA that is shared by all humans. For example here the authors claim to identify a sequence that is shared not ...
4
votes
1
answer
136
views
How can a nucleotide falling *outside* a binding site affect a transcription factor's ability to bind to said site?
In this paper regarding a polymorphism within the AQP7 gene and its potential effects on one's metabolic profile, the authors use a luciferase assay to confirm that the alleles of this SNP have a ...
3
votes
3
answers
121
views
New ORFs occurring in SARS-CoV-2 due to mutations
Are there examples of new ORFs in SARS-CoV-2 created by mutations?
The ORFs should not be present in the reference virus, but they should occur in a lineage occurring in the wild (at best, being part ...
5
votes
1
answer
129
views
Saving a Maize Landrace from Inbreeding Depression
I have 10 seeds of a rare corn landrace. I probably won't be able to acquire more and the cultigen's long term fate is unknown. So, I want to do my best to preserve it for future generations.
Corn is ...
0
votes
0
answers
67
views
Are there traits exhibiting avoidance of the mean?
Sometimes if two organisms with an unusually large value of a continuous trait mate their offspring on average will not have a value as large as one might naively expect. Regression toward the mean is ...
1
vote
0
answers
57
views
Can offspring be less genetically similar to the parent than more distant relatives?
I'd be interested in answers about any sexually reproducing species, but for simplicity I'm going to focus on humans in this question.
If the parents are very genetically different (i.e. the number of ...
1
vote
1
answer
152
views
How is it determined whether a chromosome is maternal or paternal for imprinting?
For imprinting, how does the cell determine which chromosome is maternal and which is paternal? For example, in the parental imprinting of insulin-like growth factor 2 (Igf2) on chr7 (autosome), how ...
-1
votes
2
answers
67
views
Heterozygous traits with advantages over homozygous traits
I used to believe that there are "good" alleles and "bad" alleles and having two "good" alleles could never be worse than having one "good" and one "bad&...
0
votes
1
answer
107
views
Can the effect of an allele on height be context-dependent?
Some data is available on the effect alleles have on height. For example Common DNA Variants Accurately Rank an Individual of Extreme Height
However after browsing the literature I was not able to ...
1
vote
1
answer
246
views
Why do humans share over 99% of their genomes?
From Wikipedia
The haploid human genome (23 chromosomes) is about 3 billion base pairs long and contains around 30,000 genes.[33] Since every base pair can be coded by 2 bits, this is about 750 ...
1
vote
3
answers
328
views
Is it possible to fuse DNA from two sperms and can a baby be born from that? [closed]
If this is possible, then isn't there going to be a chance to have a YY child?
1
vote
1
answer
79
views
Are restriction sites added on to the ends of a DNA fragment or are they just conveniently there?
For a DNA fragment to be inserted, it must have two restriction sites on either end. My textbook makes it seem that this is naturally occurring but it seems a little too convenient, are they added in ...
2
votes
1
answer
54
views
How many MAOA alleles are there?
The question is about the human gene MAOA.
I've seen MAOA-H and MAOA-L mentioned in papers.
The page https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?db=core;g=ENSG00000189221;r=X:43654907-43746824 ...
1
vote
0
answers
41
views
homologous recombination and non-homologous recombination ratio during S-phase
Can I assume that it is easier to do targeted gene knock-in in rapidly dividing cells because they should have a short period of G1? Is there an easy way to measure the relative amounts of homologous ...
4
votes
1
answer
105
views
Is it possible to assert who is the parent/child by looking at DNA sequence only?
Suppose I have whole genome sequences for two people of the same sex. I know one person is the parent of the other, but I do not know who is the parent and who is the child. Is it possible to ...
1
vote
0
answers
72
views
Extensions of proteins in SARS-CoV-2 variants
What lineages of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 occurring in the wild show some extensions, i.e., mutations of the stop codons to codons encoding amino acids (mutations to another stop codon don't count ...
0
votes
1
answer
159
views
Did Dinosaurs have a neocortex? [closed]
Did dinosaurs have a neocortex in their brains? If not, when did it come into existence?
0
votes
2
answers
58
views
Do the genes for external viral epitopes mutate faster than for viral machinery (e.g. Proteases)?
To fight SARS-COV-2 we use vaccines which train our immune system against viral epitopes like the external S(pike) protein. Since these structures change a lot, would it not have been a better idea to ...
0
votes
1
answer
236
views
Is it possible for a brown cat to birth an orange kitten?
I have a brown (cinnamon) cat, I assume her alleles would be b’b’ and oo. She was bred with either a black male (B_ o) or an orange male (__ O), or both if it’s possible for her to have carried the ...
-1
votes
3
answers
495
views
Red and White Flower or purely Pink? Phenotype of a Flower Species with a Co-dominant Trait
As I understand it, co-dominance is when both genes in an allelomorphic pair produce both their effects equally on the organism in question whilst incomplete dominance applies to an instance where a ...
-1
votes
2
answers
42
views
How can you identify recessive mutations in a gene that has been disrupted by a chromosomal translocation?
I am reading a journal paper about a patient who has intellectual disability. The patient was found to have a balanced chromosomal translocation t(11;16)(q24.2;q24).
This chromosomal translocation ...
2
votes
1
answer
79
views
Are there any online resources for visualising on which band of a chromosome a particular gene is located?
I am studying some genes that are expressed in the brain. I use the online database UniProt to get information about the proteins encoded by the genes of interest. However, I would like to know on ...
5
votes
1
answer
563
views
Are there any phenotypically visible examples of gene linkage in humans?
Are there any examples of two "visible" or "obvious" phenotypic traits in humans that are a priori unrelated, but which tend to be inherited together (i.e. their inheritance ...
3
votes
2
answers
136
views
Coronavirus lineages with amino acid insertions
Is there an overview over SARS-CoV-2 lineages that have some insertions in their genomes? Tools based on GISAID sequences do not show them.
I am aware of a few lineages with insertions
Mu with S:...
0
votes
1
answer
77
views
How often are diseases caused by more than a single mutation of a gene?
Many genetic diseases are caused by mutations in a gene and often, it is a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) that has dramatic consequences (e.g. the E6V hemoglobin mutation in sickle cell disease)....
1
vote
0
answers
27
views
When doing crosses (Punnett square) with drosophila, how can you be *sure* your parents are *pure lines*? [duplicate]
In plants, when someone wants to confirm that the parents are pure lines (homozygous) for the alleles studied, the person can self pollinate the plant to make sure that the descendants are identical ...
0
votes
0
answers
37
views
Relative abundance and action of 5p and 3p microRNAs
I am a beginner in genetic research and am currently conducting a project concerning microRNAs. Let's say we have miR-1-5p. If miR-1-5p is upregulated in a disease, will miR-1-3p always be ...
2
votes
0
answers
65
views
Difference between heritability on the scale of liability versus the scale of observation
I was reading a paper on disease heritability ("Estimating Missing Heritability for Disease from Genome-wide Association Studies") and it struck me that I don't have a great understanding of ...
-1
votes
3
answers
303
views
How do we know if a trait is genetic rather than via rearing environment?
In articles like this one, I often read that several "genes variants are associated to a given trait". It is often added: "genetic factors explain (say) 20% of the trait variance."
...
0
votes
1
answer
70
views
Hybrid corn yield vs mass-selected corn
I am a social scientist and I was reading "The political economy of hybrid corn" by Jean-Pierre Berlan and Richard Lewontin.
https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA4325182&sid=...
0
votes
0
answers
206
views
Why do chromosome pairs have different shapes and sizes?
When I look at microscopic images of human chromosome pairs I see that they have different shapes and sizes.
Is there a deeper biological reason for that? Is there some evolutionary pressure for them ...
-1
votes
2
answers
53
views
Chromosomal disorders
I was reading about chromosomal disorders and encountered a line stating that
'An individual may lack one of any one pair of chromosomes'
So does it mean that an individual cannot have monosomy of ...
1
vote
1
answer
55
views
Can CNVs have a phenotypic effect unrelated to the direct modification of transcriptional units?
I'd like to know how (or if) copy number variations can have a phenotypic effect unrelated to the direct disruption/movement/duplication of sequences for coding regions, promoters, enhancers etc.
I ...
-1
votes
1
answer
67
views
Is there any way siblings could be related more than 3/4th siblings, but less than full siblings?
I couldn’t find anything on Wikipedia. 3/4th siblings are 37.5% related while full siblings are 50% related. Is there anything in between?
-8
votes
1
answer
162
views
Searching for a vaccine vs searching for poor genes in the covid-19 pandemic
I have only basic knowledge about biology. I have some propositions (may be wrong) and a question about the covid-19 pandemic.
In 1918, the world had a similar pandemic, the Spanish Flu. Millions of ...
3
votes
1
answer
610
views
Pedigree probability question - complete penetrance
The inheritance pattern of a common trait that shows complete penetrance is shown below:
What is the kind of inheritance? If III-1 is a carrier, what is the probability of IV-1 (from III-1 and III-2 ...
0
votes
1
answer
260
views
Pedigree probability question
The following pedigree shows the inheritance pattern of a trait. From the following, select the possible mode of inheritance and the probability that the daughter in generation III will show the trait....
1
vote
0
answers
72
views
Monogenic disorders vs multifactorial inheritance disorders
There's a condition called SYNGAP1-related intellectual disability which is caused by mutations to the SYNGAP1 gene.
I believe that this is called a monogenic disorder, while disorders that are caused ...