My part in the website

Welcome to our website!

We are Uxue, Maria, Jonan and Nerea. Every piece of information in this website is related to genetics. We are going to be dealing with different aspects about that topic here.

However, if you do not know what genetics is or which issues it takes up, we are absolutely convinced that you are going to feel lost and you will not understand what it is written at all. So here is a brief indroduction which you should read to have a basic idea of what we are going to be working with:



GLOSSARY

·Chromosome: a packaged and organized structure containing most of the DNA of a living organism.
Picture: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Chromosome.svg

·Chromatin: substance in cells that forms chromosomes.
Picture: http://www.bio-rad.com/webroot/web/images/lsr/solutions/technologies/gene_expression/genomics/technology_detail/gxa14_img1.jpg

·DNA: a molecule that carries most of the genetic instructions used in the development, functioning and reproduction of all known living organisms and many viruses.
Picture: http://www.biophilic.net/uploads/4/4/7/9/44790625/2081248_orig.jpg?555

·RNA: a polymeric (having the same elements combined in the same proportion but different molecular weights) molecule which is essential for various biological roles as coding, decoding, regulation, and expression of genes. It is the "copy" of DNA.
Picture: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Difference_DNA_RNA-EN.svg/1280px-Difference_DNA_RNA-EN.svg.png

·Genome: genetic material of an organism. It consists of dna (or RNA in RNA viruses). The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA.
Picture: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/UCSC_human_chromosome_colours.png

·Mutation: a permanent alteration of the nucleotide sequence of the genome of an organisms, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA or other genetic elements.
Picture: http://www.yourgenome.org/sites/default/files/images/illustrations/mutation_types1_01.png
·Nucleotide: organic molecules that serve as the monomers, or subunits, of nucleic acids like DNA and RNA. The building blocks of nucleic acids, nucleotides are composed of a nitrogenous base, a five-carbon sugar (ribose or deoxyribose), and at least one phosphate group.

Picture: https://dna02.wikispaces.com/file/view/i_am_a_whore.jpg/229173532/i_am_a_whore.jpg

WHAT IS GENETICS?

Genetics is the study of genes, heredity, and genetic variation in living organisms. It is generally considered a field of biology, but it intersects frequently with many of the life sciences and is strongly linked with the study of information systems.

THE HISTORY OF GENETICS

    ·Past: the father of genetics is Gregor Mendel, a late 19^th century scientist. Mendel studied 'trait inheritance', he did research on how the traits were inherited to the descendants. He observed that organisms (pea plants) inherit traits by way of discrete "units of inheritance". This term is no longer used, and is known as the term “gens” today.

        ·Mendelian and classical genetics: Mendel traced the inheritance           patterns of certain traits in pea plants and described them                         mathematically. Although this pattern of inheritance could only be             observed for a few traits, Mendel's work suggested that heredity was         particulate, not acquired, and that the inheritance patterns of many           traits could be explained through simple rules and proportions.

        After the rediscovery of Mendel's work, scientists tried to determine           which molecules in the cell were responsible for inheritance. In                 1911, Thomas Hunt Morganargued that genes are on                                 chromosomes, based on observations of a sex-linked white eye                 mutation in fruit flies. In 1913, his student Alfred Sturtevant used the         phenomenon of genetic linkage to show that genes are arranged               linearly on the chromosome.

    ·Present: although trait inheritance and molecular inheritance mechanisms of genes are still a primary principle of genetics in the 21^st century, modern genetics has expanded beyond inheritance to studying the function and behavior of genes, and these are studied within the context of the cell. Genetics has given rise to a number of sub-fields including epigenetics and population genetics. Organisms studied within the broad field span the domain of life, including bacteria, plants, animals, and humans.

    ·Future: the advances in bioinformatics have made comparison of genomes across species efficient, bringing the possibility of a comprehensive model of the evolutionary history of life closer to reality.

With a progressive understanding of the molecular and genomic factors at play in diseases, scientists anticipate more effective medical treatments with fewer side effects in the future. Several new initiatives have been launched in effort to achieve this deeper understanding, for example:

-The Cancer Genome Atlas aims to identify all the genetic abnormalities seen in 50 major types of cancer.

* If you would like to see them all, you should check this website: http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/spring-2013-15th-anniversary-edition/genetics-past-present-and-future#.VoQuwhXhDIU *

NATURE VS NURTURE

Genetic processes work in combination with an organism's environment and experiences to influence development and behavior, often referred to as nature versus nurture.

The phrase nature and nurture relates to the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature" in the sense of nativism or innatism) as compared to an individual's personal experiences ("nurture" in the sense of empiricism or behaviorism) in causing individual differences, especially in behavioral traits.

My website's link: http://geneticseleanitza.weebly.com/

You can see all the members' posts on there.