Questions tagged [genetics]
Genetics is the branch of biology that deals with the transmission and variation of inherited characteristics.
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How strong can GC skew be?
How strong can GC skew be (in the positive or the negative direction)? What species is the current record holder?
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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&...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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?
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Did Dinosaurs have a neocortex? [closed]
Did dinosaurs have a neocortex in their brains? If not, when did it come into existence?
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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:...
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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)....
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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."
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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=...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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?
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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....
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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 ...
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Why is BRCA-1 mutation a dominant mutation?
BRCA-1 gene is a tumor suppressor gene and undergoes a loss of function mutation to become cancer inducing. Why is it that only one allele needs to be mutated because loss of function mutations are ...
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What are the additional considerations for primer design in ancient DNA?
I'm familiar with the principles of primer design and have previously designed primers for use in modern DNA. However, in my current project I am working with ancient DNA (nuclear gene) and need to ...
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Can chain-linked genetic segment data be used to reliably assign unknown relatives to either the donor's mother or father?
I am analyzing DNA matching segment data, and I am trying to broadly group all DNA matches by my donor's parents.
Based on documented evidence, I can confidently identify "Person 'B'" as a ...
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Do TADs derive from operons?
TADs (Topologically associated domains) are DNA sequences in the eukaryotes genome (except plants) that are between two sequences named "Insulator". The genes in TAD just are affected by ...
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If a small population left one continent and sailed to another, would the genes of the population that left show relation to the original population?
This question has a specific context, a religious one, and so I'm not sure this is the right place to ask, but I can't think of a better place. I would like as objective and unbiased an answer as ...
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Number of homozygous recessive offspring
A question from the KVPY-SX examination, organised by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru, India, held on 3rd November, 2019.
A plant heterozygous for height and flower colour (TtRr) ...
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Can you calculate the coefficient of inbreeding (F) without a family history?
Apologies in advance, this question may be completely obvious.
Say, I didn't have a family tree for two individuals. Could I calculate their coefficient of inbreeding? If not, is there a good proxy ...
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Do all tumour variants affect the disease pathway
I have analysed some lung tumour samples for somatic variants which generated a list of genes affected by those variants. I tried to analyse KEGG pathways to see what could they disrupt. However, many ...
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What controls the growth of a body?
Everything in our bodies is made of cells - bones, muscles, brain, blood. How do cells know how to build a body? Granted, each cell has a blueprint of the whole body in its nuleus, the genome. Does ...
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Would it be possible to sequence human DNA from wastewater treatment plants?
I know that there are some efforts from scientists working with bladder cancer to perform liquid biopsy from urine for detection and monitoring of the cancer such as this one.
I've been searching ...
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How much of male parental matter is still there in an infant organism after birth?
Are the atoms from the father's sperm still there in his baby's cells? Do they get lost during pregnancy? If they are still there, are they in a particular cell? Are they dispersed among many cells? ...
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How are random mutations in cells of an organism controlled?
Even in the most stable conditions cells undergo mutations. So in humans(an example) with millions of cells, mutations must be a common affair. But how is that we are still basically the same ...
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What's the most recent common ancestor of reptiles and humans?
In the Phylogeny of humans and reptiles, what is/are some of the most recent common ancestors?
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How do we know genes that are considered endogenous retroviruses are actually endogenous retroviruses and not just ordinary genes?
What makes these genes different as to be classed as an endogenous retrovirus? I've read the entirity of Wikipedia on retroviruses and didn't find the answer. I think it could be that these genes are ...
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What book teaches you about endogenous retroviruses [closed]
I'm interest in ERVs as evidence for evolution and want to learn more about them.
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What would cause red-haired people to become fewer?
There is this misconception that red-haired people are going to die out. This person on the Internet ("howstuffworks") also connected it to a marketing campaign of a hair dyer company. But I'...
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aneusomy vs aneuploidy
Simple question: aneusomy vs aneuploidy - what's the difference?
I tried google and PubMed, but although there are articles talking about aneusomy, I wasn't able to find a clear definition contrasting ...
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Is there any way to identify if chromosomes are inherited from the same parent?
I'm a PhD student in bioinformatics working on genomic data, and I was wondering:
If I have access to a person's chromosomes, is there an assay that can determine that two chromosomes come from the ...
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