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genetics

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Genetics is a relatively new and broad field. It can be roughly divided into four major areas.

  • Classical Genetics (e.g., Mendelian crosses, dominance, sex-linkage, linkage, recombinant mapping (Poisson distribution and Haldane's correction), epistatsis, morphs, genetic dissection, complementation, pedigree analysis (and autozygosity), chi-square testing)
  • Molecular Genetics (e.g., the central dogma, codon tables, gene structure, gene regulation, LOD score mapping, epigenetics, X-inactivation, imprinting, cell cycle control, cancer genetics)
  • Population Genetics (inbreeding, $F_{ST}$ and migration rates, effective population size, the coalescence of two lineages, neutral mutations and the rate of evolution, balancing selection, directional selection, purifying selection and genomic mutation rates, gain-of-function and loss-of-function mutations)
  • Quantitative Genetics (e.g., binomial and normal distributions, heritability, regression, the breeder's equation, GWAS, gene-environment interactions, relative risk, heritability evolving)

There are topics within each of these subfields that every biology student should be familiar with. There are also important topics that touch on social issues related to genetics that should be included in a biology education.

  • The history of eugenics (in the US and/or other countries)
  • The GMO crop debate
  • Heritability and human behavior
  • Personal genomics
  • The regulation of gene drive
genetics.1568602554.txt.gz · Last modified: 2019/09/16 02:55 by floyd