Biology Stack Exchange
Biology Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [genetics]

Genetics is the branch of biology that deals with the transmission and variation of inherited characteristics.

Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in living organisms. Subfields and derived fields include , , , , and (and questions should be tagged accordingly).

See also:

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What's the evidence against SARS-CoV-2 being engineered by humans?

A couple of colleagues suggested in a discussion that the virus that causes COVID-19 appears to be made by humans, since nature could not have produced such an efficient virus — that spreads so fast and whose patients are contagious quite some time…
Alexei
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Why 20 amino acids instead of 64?

This question got me thinking about amino acids and the ambiguity in the genetic code. With 4 nucleotides in RNA and 3 per codon, there are 64 codons. However, these 64 codons only code for 20 amino acids (or 22 if you include selenocysteine and…
Daniel Standage
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Why do men have nipples?

I'd be tempted to call nipples in men vestigial, but that suggests they have no modern function. They do have a function, of course, but only in women. So why do men (and all male mammals) have them?
Shep
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What is the advantage of circular DNA in bacteria?

From what I understand, bacteria have circular DNA. What advantages does it have over linear strands like for eukaryotes? Do there exist bacteria with more than one ring of DNA?
John Smith
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Why didn't Escobar's hippos introduced in a single event die out due to inbreeding

Today I read a BBC Report about how Pablo Escobar had once imported 4 hippos (1 male, 3 female) into his estate in Colombia for his private zoo. After his downfall, while other species were shipped out, hippos were considered too big to move and…
RedBaron
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How could a species be engineered to go extinct?

Non-biology background here. I read this very interesting article: https://www.wired.com/story/crispr-eradicate-invasive-species/ However I am having a hard time wrapping my head around something: From my basic understanding of natural selection, a…
Nathan H
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Biological siblings possible with <9 months age difference?

I'm currently in the middle of writing a story, and one of the story elements threw up a question for me. In this story, there are two siblings, who are only one or two months apart in age. As they grow older, they start to question how this age…
user35717
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What makes a cancer contagious?

Most human cancers are not (very?) contagious (perhaps besides a couple of incidents). But the Tasmanian devil seems to have a form of cancer which is contagious. Now what makes the difference between a contagious cancer and a non contagious cancer…
Marijn
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Books on population or evolutionary genetics?

I have recently been involved in collaborations that require me to model the population genetics of eukaryotic populations. I fear I may either be "re-inventing the wheel" or making conceptual mistakes (e.g. simplifying assumptions) in many of the…
hello_there_andy
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Does the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 end with 33 A's?

Looking at the DNA (or RNA?) sequence of the Covid-19 virus here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/MN908947.3 I notice it ends in 33 a's. Does the virus really look like that, or is it some artifact of the sequencing process, or some sort of…
Grumdrig
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Is it possible that by mutation a human could see infrared or other 'colours'?

Incoming light reacts with the several types of cone cells in the eye. In humans, there are three types of cones sensitive to three different spectra, resulting in trichromatic color vision. Each individual cone contains pigments composed of opsin…
Marijn
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Smallest viable reproducing population

What is the smallest viable reproducing population, such as in a human population. By viable I mean a population which keeps genetic defects low (enough). A very strongly related question: what is the expected number of generations a given…
John Smith
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Do trees age on a microscopic level?

Most animals age via at least two mechinisms: at a "macroscopic" level, basically wear and tear to the point where (on evolutionary time scales) it's more genetically advantageous to optimize for reproduction rather than longer lifespans. at a…
Shep
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How many people are required to maintain genetic diversity?

Imagine humans were to colonize a distant planet and it was a single one-way trip. How many people would they need to bring? Obviously 2 is the minimum, but that would result in a lot of inbreeding. So what number is the minimum number of people you…
cdmckay
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Why is a heritability coefficient not an index of how "genetic" something is?

On his blog, Eric Turkheimer writes: [T]aken as a number, a unit of analysis, heritability coefficients are funny things to aggregate on such a massive level. What exactly are we supposed to make of the fact that twins studies in the …
user1205901 - Слава Україні
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