Honors 232, Bio in Society, Lecture 7 Questions
1. Explain in your own words where genetic differences observed among people come from and how they give rise to variation in traits within the human population. Genetic differences among people are fundamentally caused by differences in the DNA sequences between people. Differences in DNA will lead to different alleles of genes and code different proteins, ultimately expressing different traits. The primary source of genetic variation for all organisms is mutation, a change in the DNA sequence. These changes can be random or induced by environmental factors. Mutations as small as one base pair can have drastic impacts. Another source of genetic variation is recombination, which primarily occurs in sexually reproducing organisms. Recombination is when small stretches of homologous chromosomes swap with each other during crossing over in meiosis. This further increases the different possibilities offspring can inherit from their parents. Natural selection acts on these variations, altering the percentages of certain traits in favor of those beneficial to survival. Mutations and recombination will constantly create genetic differences among people, and natural selection will determine if these genetic differences will continue to survive in future generations.
2. What do you find most…show more content… However, I get more confused the further in depth genetics is studied. While I find these topics really interesting, epigenetics and complex inheritance have many layers of depth that make genetics less clear. Firstly, It is crazy to think that there is work being done to sequence the human epigenome. Even more crazy in my opinion is how so many different genes can work together to influence the expression of complex traits. It is confusing to accept how complex life systems are, even for common traits like hair and eye