3. Heredity
• Heredity is the
transmission of
traits from
parents to
offspring
http://messybeast.com/mosaicism.htm
4. Heredity
• In sexual reproduction, half (or roughly half at
least) of genes comes from a father and the
other half come from a mother
– Human, animals, plants
• Asexual reproduction, all of the genes come
from a single parent
– Bacteria, fungi, plants
5. Heredity
• Some traits are directly from one parent (eg
sex) and some traits are a mixture from both
parents (eg skin color).
• Using Mendelian genetics, traits of offspring
can be predicted using statistics.
6. Cell division - Mitosis
• Mitosis - the cell creates an exact copy of
itself.
– Results in cells with the same number of
chromosomes as the parent cell
http://techhydra.com/wp-content/uploads/cell-division-full.jpg
7. Cell division - Meiosis
• Meiosis - the cell divides to create gametes
(egg or sperm) used for sexual reproduction
– Results in cells with half the number of
chromosomes as the parent cell
– Cross-over is the transfer of genes from one
chromosome to another. Cross-over only occurs
during meiosis
9. Basic Genetics
• Genes code for proteins and proteins
influence traits
• All living things contain genes. Viruses also
contain genes.
– Humans have ~20,000 genes
– Ebola has ~7 genes
• Genes have variants (small changes) which can
cause major or minor changes to the protein it
codes for
10. Gene Expression
• Genes need to be expressed to create a
protein
– Just because you have a gene does not necessarily
mean that gene is going to be expressed
– Many “genes” in the human genome are never
expressed
http://www.extremetech.com/ext
reme/134672-harvard-cracks-
dna-storage-crams-700-
terabytes-of-data-into-a-single-
gram
11. Traits
• Traits (characteristics of an organism) are a
result of many factors including protein and
nucleic acid activities
• The more “complex” the trait, the more
complicated the genetics
• Consider twins. Twins have the same genome
and very similar traits; yet they are still
unique. This is because traits are a result of
environment and experiences during life.
12. Environment
• Phenotypic plasticity – the degree to which a
certain trait is affected by environmental
factors
• Environmental factors influence gene
expression and vice versa
– Food, water, air
– Parents, peers, other people
– Memories from all senses: visual, auditory,
physical, etc.
– Physical activities, choices, etc
13. Mutations
• A change in the single or a few amino acids in
a protein is called a mutation (also can be
called a variant)
• A mutation or variant may or may not alter
the structure or function of the protein
• A “bad” mutation can result in a disease
(Sickle Cell Anemia or certain cancers)
• A “good” mutation can result in beneficial
traits
14. Human Genome
• For humans, there are billions of base-pairs (A,
C, T, Gs) in the human genome and (maybe)
~26,000 genes that are actually expressed.
• Each of these genes can have a number of
variants and different expression patterns.
• The combination of genetics and experiences
is what makes each person unique.
15. Genetics in Biotechnology
• Three growing fields in biotechnology
– Bioinformatics
– Computational Biology
– Systems Biology
• These fields conduct research in support of:
– Clinical/medical research
– Biopharmaceutical discoveries and development
– Evolutionary biology
– Forensic biology
– Engineering
16. Bioinformatics
• The use of information technology
(computers, servers, etc) to study biology.
– Genetic and protein databases
– Software development for analysis and
comparison of gene and protein sequences
• Finding variants/mutations in genes and proteins
• Evolutionary biology
17. Computational Biology
• Using computers to model, visualize, predict,
simulate biological processes.
– Predict protein sequences
– Visualization of protein folding
– Predict protein interactions with chemicals
http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/14/8/16882
18. Systems Biology
• Determining the
molecular function
of a protein could
predict what could
happen if the
protein changes
http://abeautifulwww.com/GeneVisualizatio
ns_E01C/cerebralmapk.jpg
• The study of biological systems - Systems
biology attempts to define (the very complex)
biological processes
