17. Mutation, Repair, and Recombination

Which of the following tests determined that most mutations are spontaneous?

True or False:Thymine tautomers can base pair with cytosine.

Which of the following forms of DNA damage is NOT caused spontaneously?

The family of a sixth-grade boy in Palo Alto, California, was informed by school administrators that he would have to transfer out of his middle school because they believed his mutation of the CFTR gene, which does not produce any symptoms associated with cystic fibrosis, posed a risk to other students at the school who have cystic fibrosis. After missing 11 days of school, a settlement was reached to have the boy return to school. What ethical problems might you associate with this example?

Presented here are hypothetical findings from studies of heterokaryons formed from seven human xeroderma pigmentosum cell strains:

These data are measurements of the occurrence or nonoccurrence of unscheduled DNA synthesis in the fused heterokaryon. None of the strains alone shows any unscheduled DNA synthesis. Which strains fall into the same complementation groups? How many different groups are revealed based on these data? What can we conclude about the genetic basis of XP from these data?

How do we know that DNA repair mechanisms detect and correct the majority of spontaneous and induced mutations?