Plant Biotechnology and our Oak domestication problem

You are a geneticist working for a firm that specializes in plant biotechnology. Explain what specific parts (fruit, seeds, stems, roots, etc.) of the following plants you would try to alter by genetic engineering, what changes you would try to make, and why, on a) corn, b) tomatoes, c) wheat, and d) avocados. Only a few hundred of the hundreds of thousands of species in the plant kingdom have been domesticated for human use. One example is the almond. The domestic almond is nutritious and harmless, but its wild precursor can cause cyanide poisoning. The oak makes potentially nutritious seeds (acorns) that contain very bitter-tasting tannins. If we could breed the tannin out of a... click for more

Polymerase Chain Reaction - PCR

I am legally blind and therefore, I cannot see the board in the classroom, and I also cannot read regular print because my vision is too low. That is why I need your help in solving the review problems below. Please send me the correct answers to all nine problems and write large and clear, using high contrast such as a thick black pen on white paper. Please print because I cannot read cursive due to my low vision and involuntary eye movement. I thank you very much for your support. PCR Review: 1. List and describe the components of a typical PCR reaction 2. Why are there three different temperature steps during a "PCR cycle"? What is taking place during each cycle? ... click for more

What is the role of x-inactivation in keeping balance between men and women?

I think I grasp the female chromosome cancelling but I don't understand how the balance is achieved. Does the fact that the Y-chromosome is shorter have anything to do with it?

mtDNA vs. nDNA

I understand that the difference between mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA is nuclear DNA inherits its genetic information from parents and slightly changes with reproduction, mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the female and never changes except by mutation.. but I am being asked to compare properties such as structure, shape, location within the cell, number of copies per cell, origin of mitochondrial DNA, and protein types coded by mitochondrial DNA and I am lost.

Genetics - common ancestor

How do species evolve from a common ancestor? What are the differences between human, chimpanzee and their common ancestor, on the chromosome and genome levels?