Rayna Qian 1. What are plasmids? What is a transposon? Compare and contrast the two.

Plasmid = small, round extrachromosomal DNA bits, occur primarily in pro., some are small and simple, others can be complex and contain many genes, replicate separately from bacterial chromosome, enter and exit main genome at specific places only where nucleotide sequences match, can go from one bacterium to another Transposon = a DNA sequence that can move from on position on the genome to another at random in BOTH pro. and euk., discovered later than plasmids, VERY rare, can destroy a gene's function by inserting itself and messing with the code 2. Describe the process of gene transfer by conjugation. ex: in E. coli, 2 bacterium are pulled closely together so their DNA can swap, creating a conjugation bridge out of a F plasmid + somewhere on the inside of the F positive cell under the pilus (aka protein subunits that form on the surface of a bacterial cell), then rolling-circle replication occurs, resulting in the F plasmid having copied its DNA @ binding point, the single stranded DNA copy of plasmid passes into other cell. Inside other cell, complementary strand is made. 3. Describe and give examples of the 5 types of mutations altering DNA sequences. Base pair substitutions - random errors in matching base pairs, typically involve only a few errors (ex: B protein is inactive b/c changed AA messes with function, base pairs no longer code for same thing, sickle-cell anemia Chemical modifications - altered by a chemical that causes mutations (ex: cancer causing tars from cigarettes mess with bases DNA breaks - ionizing radiation causes short segments of DNA to be lost a double stranded DNA breaks (ex: loss of a few bases cause a part of a protein to be missing, rendering it inactive) Slipped misspairings - when a segment of DNa is cut out, causing every base pair to shift down a few bases, causing everything to be wrong (ex: triplet expansion - additional copies of a 3 base sequence, ex CAGCAGCAGCAGCAGCAG added between a gene sequence, causing protein to inactive, or codes for a mutated protein 4. Describe the types of chromosomal mutations. Nondisjunction - when spindle fibers don't separate during meiosis, causing gametes with one extra chromosome and other gametes missing a chromosome Deletion of a gene - genes of a chromosome are lost as they unattach from the centromere, become loose translocations (two nohomologues swap segments, transfer of a chunk of one chromosome to a nonhomologous chromosome), and duplications ( during meiosis, crossing over between sister chromatids that are out of alignment can produce one chromatid w/ a duplicated gene and the other w/ the deleted other genes) 5. Can DNA repair itself? Yes- can be done through mismatch repair (specific enzymes in cell recognize a sequence of DNA and add a methyl group to the A, so mismatch repair mutants can methylate this A. b/f methylase, mismatch repair enzymes find errors and correct them

or through specific repair systems, like UVR photorepair system (fixes damage cuased by UV, repaired by an enzyme), or when a Uracil is present even though it is not supposed to be can be corrected with the repair polymerase. can also use excision repair, which first removes messed up DNA part and replaces the hole w/ newly synthesized DNA or Post-replication repair