Coaching Centre
Chapter 1: Genetics and Biotechnology Notes
The structure of DNA, genes and chromosomes, meiosis and variation, protein synthesis, mutations, patterns of inheritance with Punnett squares and pedigrees, PCR and DNA profiling, genetic engineering and CRISPR, and the ethics of genetic testing, including Indigenous data sovereignty.
Sections
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1A The structure of DNA Mastered
How scientists including Miescher, Chargaff, Franklin, Wilkins, Watson and Crick worked out the structure of DNA, nucleotides and complementary base pairing, the double helix, how DNA copies itself, and how to extract DNA in the lab.
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1B Genes, chromosomes and genomes Mastered
How DNA is packed into chromosomes, what genes and alleles are, chromosome numbers in different species, karyotypes and sex chromosomes, chromosome number errors, and what the Human Genome Project and complete genome sequencing revealed.
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1C Meiosis and variation Mastered
A closer look at meiosis: how crossing over and independent assortment create new combinations of alleles, how linked genes are mapped, how nondisjunction causes chromosome number errors, and why sexual reproduction makes every offspring unique.
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1D From gene to protein Mastered
Why proteins matter, how RNA differs from DNA, transcription of a gene into mRNA, the triplet genetic code and how it was cracked, translation by ribosomes and tRNA, and how mRNA vaccines use the same process.
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1E Mutations Mastered
What mutations are, how they arise spontaneously and from mutagens, gene mutations (substitution, insertion, deletion) and their effects (silent, missense, nonsense, frameshift), chromosome mutations, somatic and germline mutations, and examples including sickle cell disease and cystic fibrosis.
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1F Mendel and Punnett squares Mastered
Gregor Mendel's pea experiments, dominant and recessive alleles, genotype and phenotype, homozygous and heterozygous, using Punnett squares to predict monohybrid crosses, probability and ratios, and test crosses.
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1G Beyond simple dominance Mastered
Inheritance patterns that go beyond Mendel's dominant and recessive alleles: incomplete dominance, codominance, multiple alleles and the ABO blood groups, polygenic traits, and how the environment and epigenetics affect phenotype.
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1H Sex linkage and pedigrees Mastered
How sex is inherited, X-linked inheritance including red–green colour blindness and haemophilia, how to draw and read pedigree charts, and how to decide whether a trait is autosomal or X-linked, dominant or recessive.
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1I PCR and DNA profiling Mastered
How the polymerase chain reaction copies DNA, how restriction enzymes cut DNA, how gel electrophoresis separates fragments by size, and how DNA profiles based on short tandem repeats are used in forensic science, paternity testing, identifying remains and conservation.
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1J Genetic engineering and CRISPR Mastered
How genes are moved between organisms to make transgenic organisms such as insulin-making bacteria and Bt cotton, how DNA sequencing and bioinformatics developed, how CRISPR-Cas9 edits genes, and what gene therapy has and has not achieved.
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1K Genetic testing and ethics Mastered
Newborn, carrier and predictive genetic testing, stem cells and cloning, the debate over GM foods, germline editing, and Indigenous genomics and data sovereignty, with a framework for weighing benefits, risks and values.
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1L Genetics and biotechnology review Mastered
A summary of the whole Genetics and Biotechnology chapter, key words, and a mixed test covering DNA, chromosomes, meiosis, protein synthesis, mutations, inheritance patterns, pedigrees, PCR and profiling, genetic engineering, CRISPR and ethics.