DNA and RNA Test Review #2

1. Given the great diversity and complexity of life why did it seem to make sense that proteins were the cell's hereditary material?
2. How did radioactivity solve the debate of whether protein or DNA is the cell's hereditary material?
3. Compare and contrast DNA polymerase and RNA polymerase.
4. How does RNA polymerase know when to stop transcription?
5. Evolution is described as conservative. If something works it is kept. Use the codon encoding of amino acids to illustrate this point. Hint: bacteria to humans.
6. A point mutation that changes a single amino acid in a protein can be disastrous. Explain how protein conformation might account for this.
7. Several thousand years ago, the cheetah population in Africa was reduced to a very few individuals (perhaps as few as seven!). This is called a genetic bottleneck. Explain how gel electrophoresis might help determine that this had occurred.