Genetics
hideGenetics (from Ancient Greek γενετικός genetikos, “genitive” and that from γένεσις genesis, “origin”), a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding. However, the modern science of genetics, which seeks to understand the process of inheritance, only began with the work of Gregor Mendel in the mid-nineteenth century. Although he did not know the physical basis for heredity, Mendel observed that organisms inherit traits via discrete units of inheritance, which are now called genes.
Genes correspond to regions within DNA, a molecule composed of a chain of four different types of nucleotides—the sequence of these nucleotides is the genetic information organisms inherit. DNA naturally occurs in a double stranded form, with nucleotides on each strand complementary to each other. Each strand can act as a template for creating a new partner strand—this is the physical method for making copies of genes that can be inherited.
The sequence of nucleotides in a gene is translated by cells to produce a chain of amino acids, creating proteins—the order of amino acids in a protein corresponds to the order of nucleotides in the gene. This relationship between nucleotide sequence and amino acid sequence is known as the genetic code. The amino acids in a protein determine how it folds into a three-dimensional shape; this structure is, in turn, responsible for the protein's function. Proteins carry out almost all the functions needed for cells to live. A change to the DNA in a gene can change a protein's amino acids, changing its shape and function: this can have a dramatic effect in the cell and on the organism as a whole. Two additional factors that can change the shape of the protein are pH and temperature.
Although genetics plays a large role in the appearance and behavior of organisms, it is the combination of genetics with what an organism experiences that determines the ultimate outcome. For example, while genes play a role in determining an organism's size, the nutrition and other conditions it experiences after inception also have a large effect.
For more information about Genetics, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with genetic
Genetic study clarifies African and African-American ancestry
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People who identify as African-American may be as little as 1 percent West African or as much as 99 percent, just one finding of a large-scale, genome-wide study of African and African-American ancestry released ...
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study of thousands of species of plants and animals suggests new species may arise from rare events instead of through an accumulation of small changes made in response to changes in ...
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Dec 10, 2009 |
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The H1N1 influenza virus has been keeping a secret that may be the key to defeating it and other flu viruses as well.
New giant virus discovered
Dec 09, 2009 |
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Scientists in France have isolated a new giant virus that lurks inside amoeba and whose gene pool includes genetic material from other species.
Researchers demonstrate a better way for computers to 'see' (w/ Video)
Technology / Computer Sciences
Dec 02, 2009 |
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Taking inspiration from genetic screening techniques, researchers from Harvard and MIT have demonstrated a way to build better artificial visual systems with the help of low-cost, high-performance gaming hardware.
Why females live longer than males: is it due to the father's sperm?
Dec 01, 2009 |
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Researchers in Japan have found that female mice produced by using genetic material from two mothers but no father live significantly longer than mice with the normal mix of maternal and paternal genes. Their findings provide ...
Right/left handedness of snails changed in the lab
Nov 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Like most animals, snails have either left- or right-handed asymmetry (chirality), both internally and externally, and the handedness is hereditary. A new study has for the first time found ...
Supervolcano eruption -- in Sumatra -- deforested India 73,000 years ago
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 23, 2009 |
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A new study provides "incontrovertible evidence" that the volcanic super-eruption of Toba on the island of Sumatra about 73,000 years ago deforested much of central India, some 3,000 miles from the epicenter, ...
The evolution of orchids
Nov 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Charles Darwin and many other scientists have long been puzzled by the evolution of orchids, the largest and most diverse family of flowering plants on Earth. Now genetic sequencing is giving ...
Nanoparticles used in common household items caused genetic damage in mice
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Nov 16, 2009 |
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Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, found in everything from cosmetics to sunscreen to paint to vitamins, caused systemic genetic damage in mice, according to a comprehensive study conducted by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson ...
Africa's rarest monkey had an intriguing sexual past, DNA study confirms
Nov 11, 2009 |
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The most extensive DNA study to-date of Africa's rarest monkey reveals that the species had an intriguing sexual past. Of the last two remaining populations of the recently discovered kipunji, one population ...
Antarctic lake home to diverse community of viruses
Nov 11, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A study of the genetic structure of viruses in an Antarctic lake has revealed an astonishing genetic richness in the large number of viral families discovered.
Ancient penguin DNA raises doubts about accuracy of genetic dating techniques
Nov 10, 2009 |
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Penguins that died 44,000 years ago in Antarctica have provided extraordinary frozen DNA samples that challenge the accuracy of traditional genetic aging measurements, and suggest those approaches have been ...
Orphan army ants join nearby colonies
Nov 04, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Colonies of army ants, whose long columns and marauding habits are the stuff of natural-history legend, are usually antagonistic to each other, attacking soldiers from rival colonies in border ...
Mummy's tooth yields DNA
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A four thousand year old Egyptian mummy's tooth has yielded its DNA to probing scientists.
