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Comprehension Questions

Answers to questions and problems preceded by an asterisk can be found at the end of the book.

Section 1.1

How did Hopi culture contribute to the high incidence of albinism among members of the Hopi tribe?

Outline some of the ways in which genetics is important to all of us.

Give at least three examples of the role of genetics in society today.

Briefly explain why genetics is crucial to modern biology.

List the three traditional subdisciplines of genetics and summarize what each covers.

What are some characteristics of model genetic organisms that make them useful for genetic studies?

Section 1.2

When and where did agriculture first arise? What role did genetics play in the development of the first domesticated plants and animals?

Outline the concept of pangenesis and explain how it differs from the germ-plasm theory.

What does the concept of the inheritance of acquired characteristics propose and how is it related to the concept of pangenesis?

What is preformationism? What did it have to say about how traits are inherited?

Define blending inheritance and contrast it with preformationism.

How did developments in botany in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries contribute to the rise of modern genetics?

List some advances in genetics made in the twentieth century.

Briefly explain the contribution that each of the following persons made to the study of genetics.

Section 1.3

What are the two basic cell types (from a structural perspective) and how do they differ?

Outline the relations between genes, DNA, and chromosomes.

For more questions that test your comprehension of the key chapter concepts, go to for this chapter.