Gene dosage—the number of copies of a gene that are actively being expressed—is important to proper development. Identify and describe two processes that establish the proper dosage of certain genes.

Short Answer

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The two processes that establish the proper dosage of certain genes are inactivation of an X chromosome in females and genomic imprinting. The dosage of a gene is particularly dealt with the copies of the gene present in the entire genome.

Step by step solution

01

Description of gene expression

Genes are basic hereditary segments present in the DNA. The proper expression of the genome is necessary for the effective functioning of the body's metabolism. Genes are converted into protein, for which proper loading of gene dosage is necessary.

02

Description of gene dosage

The quantity of gene products expressed by the cell is known as gene dosage. It can change due to the insertions or deletions in the entire genome, leading to copy number variations.

The variation in the number of copies of a gene happens in different organisms. The drastic change in gene dosage is the basis for certain types of disease.

03

Processes responsible for the establishment of gene dosage

X chromosomes inactivation and genome imprinting are the processes responsible for establishing gene dosage. The X chromosome is the same in males and females, but it is maintained in males due to the X chromosome inactivation.

X chromosomes present in the cells other than egg cells are inactivated randomly or permanently.

Genomic imprinting determines the gene's ability that is passed from the parents to the offspring. Usually, the inheritance of the gene happens from the mother. With the help of genomic imprinting, one allele gets expressed phenotypically.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Assume you are mapping genes A, B, C, and D in Drosophila. You know that these genes are linked on the same chromosome, and you determine the recombination frequencies between each pair of genes to be as follows: A-B, 8%; A-C, 28%; A-D, 25%; B-C, 20%; B-D, 33%.

  1. Describe how you determined the recombination frequency for each pair of genes.

  2. Draw a chromosome map based on your data.

Butterflies have an X-Y sex determination system that is different from that of flies or humans. Female butterflies may be either XY or X0, while butterflies with two or more X chromosomes are males. This photograph shows a tiger swallowtail gynandromorphy, which is half male (left side) and half female (right side). Given that the first division of the zygote divides the embryo into the future right and left halves of the butterfly, propose a hypothesis that explains how nondisjunction during the first mitosis might have produced this unusual looking butterfly.

When two genes are located on the same chromosome, what is the physical basis for the production of recombinant offspring in a testcross between a dihybrid parent and a double-mutant (recessive) parent?

A wild-type fly (heterozygous for gray body and normal wings) is mated with a black fly with vestigial wings. The offspring have the following phenotypic distribution: wild type, 778; black vestigial; 785; black normal, 158; gray vestigial, 162. What is the recombination frequency between these genes for the body color and wing size? Is this consistent with the results of the experiment in Figure 15.9?

A wild-type fruit fly (heterozygous for the gray body color and red eyes) is mated with a black fruit fly with purple eyes. The offspring are wild-type, 721; black purple, 751; gray purple, 49; black red, 45. What is the recombination frequency between these genes for the body color and eye color? Using information for problem 3, what fruit flies (genotypes and phenotypes) would you mate to determine the order of the body color, wing size, and eye color genes on the chromosome?

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