Assignment:
Review the Lab 15 Introduction material and use the instructions for the Lab 15 Experiment 4 to answer the following questions. Assume that:
• there are approximately 3,000,000,000 base pairs in the mammalian genome (genes constitute only a small portion of this total)
• there are approximately 10,000 genes in the mammalian genome
• a single gene averages about 10,000 base pairs in size.
Consider the following questions:
1. Based on the assumptions above, in the mammalian genome, how many total base pairs are in all the mammalian genes? Show your math!
2. What proportion (%) of the total genome does this represent? Show your math!
3. What is the probability that a random mutation will occur in any given gene? Show your math!
4. Only 1 out of 3 mutations that occur in a gene result in a change to the protein structure. What is the probability that a random mutation will change the structure of a protein? Show your math!
5. The sickle cell allele (s) remains quite high populations of those with African Ancestry, and the worldwide distribution of the sickle cell gene matches very closely to the worldwide distribution of Malaria. How might you explain these two observations in terms of natural selection? See p 265 in your book if you are unsure. Cite your sources used.