BIOLOGY 223:  HUMAN GENETICS AND EVOLUTION
Study guide for exam 3 Spring 2007 (download this guide as an easy to print Word document)

Understand what the following terms mean, be able to provide a definition and examples
Where appropriate:

• DSM V
• Evolution
• Heritability
• Genetic Variance
• Phenotypic Variance
• Balancing Selection
• Disruptive Selection
• Directional Selection
• Comorbidity
• Zygote
• Blastomere
• Morula
• Blastocyst
• Inner cell mass
• Embryonic disc
• Galton
• Affective disorder
• Blunted affect
• Alex Jeffries
• Kerry Mullis
  
• PCR
  
• STR
  
• Racial profiling with DNA
  
• CODIS
  
• Phrenology
  
• Hardy and Weinberg
  
• p + q = 1
  
• P2 + 2pq + q2
  
• Amnion
  
• Chorion

• What are the main features of a continuous trait as opposed to a discrete trait and what are the genetic bases of the two?  Give examples
• What is a polygenic threshold trait?  Give examples
• What does it mean when the heritability of a trait is zero?  Is  0.75?
• How are Siamese twins formed?
• Where does fertilization take place?
• How long until implantation?
• Where were the earliest hominid fossils found?
• Name two Australopithecines
• Name two species of Homo other than sapiens
• What were some of the main differences between the Australopithecines and the Homo that came later?   What dates are associated with the major fossil hominids?  Where were the Australopithecines found?
• How are human feet different from those of other hominids?
• What assumptions must be met for a population to be in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium?
  Name four processes that can change gene frequencies.
• What are the primary differences between affective disorder and schizophrenia?
  How can medications help us to understand the genetic bases of these disorders?
• Give as many lines of evidence as you can to show that genes have an influence on intelligence.
• What are some of the potential problems with studies of heritability that can be avoided with careful experimental design?
• What is the reproductive biology behind the formation of fraternal or dizygotic twins?
• What are the various ways in which monozygotic or identical twins can be formed?
• Which types of cells can and cannot be used for DNA typing?
• What are the uses of DNA profiling ?
• What are the conditions under which genetic markers are most useful in determining a suspect’s guilt ?  Clue:  the relative frequency of the genetic markers in the suspect is important here.
• Does the state of Arizona produce DNA data from suspects that can be uploaded into the CODIS national DNA database?
• Can DNA profiles be generated from the semen of a male who has undergone a vasectomy?
• Name one of the three factors that make forensic DNA analysis so powerful.
• What is the only physical trait that can be determined from a forensic DNA profile?
• Describe the electropherogram pattern at the amelogenin locus for males, females or a mixture of male and female material.
• Give examples  of traits under balancing, disruptive, or directional selection.
• Family studies, twin studies and adoption studies are typically used to estimate the heritability of a trait.  Discuss the advantages and disadvantages to each type of study.