Work through the list without notes. If you cannot do a statement, follow its link, then come back. Guide = study guide; Practice = practice questions.
Understanding
- I can define a mutation and explain how it can change the type of protein, the amount of protein, or nothing. (Guide: “What a mutation is”; Practice Q7)
- I can tell silent, missense and nonsense point mutations apart from a codon change. (Guide: “Point mutations”; Practice Q1)
- I can explain why insertions or deletions that are not multiples of three shift the reading frame, and why a point mutation cannot. (Guide: Figure 1; Practice Q2)
- I can name the causes of mutation and explain why mutations are random. (Guide: “What causes mutations”; Worked example 2)
- I can explain how nondisjunction leads to aneuploidy and describe the main changes in chromosome structure. (Guide: “Errors in chromosomes”)
- I can name and describe transformation, transduction, conjugation, transposition and viral recombination. (Guide: “Variation for natural selection to act on”; Practice Q6)
Skills
- I can transcribe a template strand, translate it with a codon table, and show the effect of a mutation on the polypeptide. (Guide: Worked example 1; Practice Q4)
- I can predict the gametes produced when nondisjunction happens in meiosis I or meiosis II. (Guide: Figure 2; Practice Q3)
- I can calculate percentages and ratios from survival or enzyme data and use them as evidence. (Practice Q5, Q7)
Reasoning
- I can argue, with data, that the same mutation can be beneficial in one environment and harmful in another. (Guide: Worked example 2; Practice Q5)
- I can explain why an environment selects existing variants rather than causing the mutations it favours. (Guide: Worked example 2; Practice Q5)
- I can predict whether a mutation’s location (active site, surface, promoter, third codon position) makes a large or small effect likely. (Guide: “Location matters”; Practice Q4, Q7)
All ticked? Move on to Topic 6.8, Biotechnology, or return to the course roadmap.