Exam: Wednesday, 02 April, 2-4P [2 hour exam]

Instructions:
1. I will select five of the following questions: you must answer any three: you may not answer the question pertaining to your own group's presentation.

2. Your answer for each must fit on the front and back of one lined sheet of paper.
3. You may bring notes on your prepared answers, on the front and back of one 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. [Please don't try to cram complete essays onto this page!].

Group 1 – Explain the genetic phenomena that produce the patterns in the picture of pair-rule gene expression in Drosophila. What is the technical basis for the different cell colors?

Group 2 – Compare and contrast the experimental strategies by which HuGO and the Venter group obtained the complete sequence of the human genome.

Group 3 - Explain the one- & two-step models of cancer induction, using Retinoblastoma as a model.

Group 7 –Explain the difference between somatic and germline therapies. It has been suggested that somatic therapy for genetic diseases is less ethically controversial than germline therapy: discuss the arguments for and against each as a therapeutic procedure.

Group 5 - Explain the concept of the “Mitochondrial Eve” in terms of Most Recent Common Ancestor and Coalescence.

Group 6 – Explain the construction of  GMOs, e.g. Monsanto's  RoundUp Ready maize. What are the advantages and disadvantages, to business and society, of granting patent protection to GMOs?

Group 4 - Discuss Tiresias Syndrome: would you yourself want to have detailed genomic information for a serious genetic disease that is at present incurable [e.g., Huntington Disease]. { NOTE: I apologize if this question hits too close to home for any student].

GATACCA - In this 1997 movie, Marie &Antonio Freeman have two children, Vincent Anton conceived as a "utero", and Anton, conceived as a "vitro". The first few minutes of the movie shows the birth of Vincent, and the planning of Anton. From the standpoint of what we have learned in Biol4241, Discuss the genetic science of these two births. Is it accurate: where and where not? What about the diagnosis of Vincent Anton? Is Anton a case of 'genetic engineering'? This 17-year-old movie says it is set "in the not too distant future": in 2014, what aspects of the genetics are now established science, and what remains in the future ? [Bonus: What is the significance of the names of the principal characters? The Ernest Borgnine character, head of the cleaning crew at GATACCA, is named "Caesar": how is his name meaningful?]

[11 Mar]            [Group 1] Chap 18, Eukaryotic development [posted 10 Mar].

[12 Mar]            [Group 2] Chap 19, The Human Genome & HuGO [posted 11 Mar].

[13 Mar]            [Group 3] Chap 20, Genes & Medicine [posted 16 Mar].

[18 Mar]            [Group 7] Genetic Counseling [posted 16 Mar].

[19 Mar]            [Group 5] Chap 21, DNA Studies of human history [posted Mar 17].

[20 Mar]            [Group 6] Chap 22, Genes in industry & agriculture [posted 19 Mar].

[25 Mar]            [Group 4] Chap. 23, Ethical issues in modern genetics [posted 23 Mar].