Question

( Use complete sentences and paragraphs in your answers)

1.  How does the discovery of epigenetics change our views about Darwin, Mendel, and Lamarck?

2. What are archaea and what do they have to do with genomics (study of genomes)?

3. What is the significance of shigella to our understanding of horizontal gene transfer?

4. What are transposons?

5. What was Darwin “wrong” about, according to the piece?

6.What is the microbiome and what does it have to with genetics?

if lost on the questions here is an article

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/09/darwin-evolution-crispr-microbiome-bacteria-news/

Answer 1

1. Critics such as the evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne pointed out that epigenetic inheritance lasts for only a few generations, so it is not a stable basis for evolutionary change as suggested by Darwin, Mendel, and Lamarck. Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve changes to the underlying DNA sequence — a change in phenotype without a change in genotype.

2. Archaea are the microorganisms which are similar to bacteria in size and simplicity of structure but radically different in the molecular organization. They are now believed to constitute an ancient group which is intermediate between the bacteria and eukaryotes. Because they are intermediate in structure between bacteria and eukaryotes so they are the best candidates for the study of genomes. Genomics is an area within genetics that concerns the sequencing and analysis of an organism's genome.

3. Horizontal gene transfer is a process in which an organism such as bacteria transfers genetic material to another organism that is not its offspring. Using genomic epidemiology, it has been shown that repeated horizontal transfer of a single AMR plasmid among Shigella enhanced existing and facilitated new epidemics.

4.  transposons or jumping gene is a DNA sequence that can change its position within a genome, sometimes creating or reversing mutations and altering the cell's genetic identity and genome size. Transposition often results in duplication of the same genetic material.

5.

6. The microbiome is the genetic material of all the microbes - bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses - that live on and inside the human body. The number of genes in all the microbes in one person's microbiome is 200 times the number of genes in the human genome. The goal of the Human Microbiome Project is to characterize the human microbiome and analyze its role in human health and disease. Microbiome help digests our food, produce certain vitamins, regulate our immune system, and keep us healthy by protecting us against disease-causing bacteria.