Questions tagged [genetics]
Genetics is the branch of biology that deals with the transmission and variation of inherited characteristics.
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Why is a heritability coefficient not an index of how "genetic" something is?
On his blog, Eric Turkheimer writes:
[T]aken as a number, a unit of analysis, heritability coefficients are
funny things to aggregate on such a massive level. What exactly are
we supposed to ...
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Books on population or evolutionary genetics?
I have recently been involved in collaborations that require me to model the population genetics of eukaryotic populations. I fear I may either be "re-inventing the wheel" or making conceptual ...
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Solving Hardy Weinberg problems
I really fail to understand Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and can't find an easy enough source of information.
Can you help me to understand Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?
My goal is to be able to solve ...
- 351
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Why is the strength of genetic drift inversely proportional to the population size?
I saw a concept on the Internet that says "the strength of genetic drift is inversely proportional to the population size". I don't know why they are inversely proportional? Can somebody explain? ...
user5407
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Why are some genes dominant over others? What is the mechanism behind it?
If I have a brown eye gene which encodes the protein that is responsible for the brown color and have a blue eye gene as well, what is the reason that my eye color is brown? How does one gene maintain ...
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Genetic linkage greater than 50 centimorgans
Classically, the linkage between two loci can be measured in centimorgans (cM), which represents the percent chance that these two loci will recombine an odd number of times (generating a recombinant ...
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Are mutations random?
The following claim
Mutations are random
or just the use of the expression
Random mutations
are very common among lay people.
The claim is very common among lay people. The claim is often ...
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Do apes and humans share 99% of DNA or 99% of genes? What is the difference?
I made an answer on the Scifi.SE that can be read here. It is about how the characters in the story Jurassic Park might have gotten DNA for all the species shown.
In my answer, I said this:
Apes ...
user3970
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Why 20 amino acids instead of 64?
This question got me thinking about amino acids and the ambiguity in the genetic code. With 4 nucleotides in RNA and 3 per codon, there are 64 codons. However, these 64 codons only code for 20 amino ...
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Do trees age on a microscopic level?
Most animals age via at least two mechinisms:
at a "macroscopic" level, basically wear and tear to the point where (on evolutionary time scales) it's more genetically advantageous to optimize for ...
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How many genes do we share with our mother?
Somewhere I have read we share more than 99% of our genes with every other other person and 98% of our genes with chimpanzees. What does this mean? Don't we share 50% of our genes with our mother and ...
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How is eye color in humans inherited?
In high school we studied the inheritance of eye color, as it was explained to us in the most simple way: blue eye color is a recessive, monogenic, autosomal trait. Now I know that it is a bit more ...
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How is genetic speciation defined?
What determines speciation at a molecular level?
At what point does a scientist determine two lineages are different enough to be considered separate species?
Does it have a margin of error?
sophie silec
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Redundancy of the genetic code
One particular codon codes only for one amino acid, but an amino acid can be coded for by several different codons. Now according to the genetic code, the codon UUU ...
user9950
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Why is DNA antiparallel? Can it be parallel?
My biology textbook mentions that DNA is antiparallel and it got me wondering - can DNA be parallel? What would happen if it was parallel? Could DNA still replicate correctly?
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