CourseSource | Evidence-based teaching resources for undergraduate biology education

Skip to main content

You are here

See all Nature Of Genetic Material Articles

Genetics Learning Framework

Society Learning Goals	Articles	Sample Learning Objectives

Nature of Genetic Material
How is DNA organized?	An undergraduate bioinformatics curriculum that teaches eukaryotic gene structure CRISPR/Cas9 in yeast: a multi-week laboratory exercise for undergraduate students Homologous chromosomes? Exploring human sex chromosomes, sex determination and sex reversal using bioinformatics approaches The Case of the Missing Strawberries: RFLP analysis Using computational molecular modeling software to demonstrate how DNA mutations cause phenotypes Using CRISPR-Cas9 to teach the fundamentals of molecular biology and experimental design	show Explain the meaning of ploidy (haploid, diploid, aneuploid etc.) and how it relates to the number of homologues of each chromosome. Describe how the positions of individual genes on a given chromosome are related to their positions on the homolog of that chromosome. Differentiate between a gene and an allele, including the recognition that genes may have many alleles. Explain the functional significance of packaging DNA into chromosomes and the lack of correlation between chromosome size and genetic information content. Describe the types of DNA regions that do not encode proteins: the general organization, possible function, and frequency of genes and non-gene DNA sequences in a typical eukaryotic genome. Explain what is meant by single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and short tandem repeat (STR), and explain how SNPs and STRs can be used as genetic markers even if they do not cause phenotypic changes. Discuss how DNA is packaged in the chromosomes in terms of histones, nucleosomes, and chromatin.
What are the molecular components and mechanisms necessary to preserve and duplicate an organism’s genome?	A virtual laboratory on cell division using a publicly-available image database An undergraduate bioinformatics curriculum that teaches eukaryotic gene structure Sex-specific differences in Meiosis: Real-world applications Why Meiosis Matters: The case of the fatherless snake You and Your Oral Microflora: Introducing non-biology majors to their “forgotten organ”	show Draw a simple line diagram showing a segment of DNA from a gene and its RNA transcript, indicating which DNA strand is the template, the direction of transcription and the polarities of all DNA and RNA strands. Describe the process of mitosis, transcription, and translation. How are mistakes in these processes identified and corrected?