What is the term for a nonfunctional gene that has arisen from the duplication and subsequent mutation of an ancestral gene?
Explanation
Pseudogenes are byproducts of genome evolution. They arise when a duplicated gene (a paralog) accumulates mutations that render it nonfunctional. They are common in eukaryotic genomes and provide a record of past gene duplication events.
Other questions
What term describes measurable changes in a population over time that do not result in the creation of new species, but can alter the population's appearance or behavior?
Genetic variants in which biological pathway are shared by Sherpa and Tibetan populations, providing a physiological advantage for living at high elevations?
Which of the following is NOT a condition required for a population to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, meaning no evolution is occurring?
What term describes the evolutionary mechanism where a small fraction of a population separates to begin a new population, which may have a different genetic makeup from the original?
The phenotypic differences in the pelvic fin of three-spine stickleback fish in deep versus shallow water are caused by a loss-of-function mutation in what type of genetic element?
What is the correct definition of a paralog?
Which statement accurately describes the relationship between genetic variation within and between human racial groups?
What term refers to a group of SNPs and other molecular markers on a chromosome that tend to be inherited together as a block?
The phenomenon where individuals preferentially select mates that are like themselves, which can amplify rare traits in a population, is known as what?
The reintroduction of a small number of wolves to Yellowstone National Park, resulting in a population with a much higher frequency of black coats (about 50 percent) than the source populations (less than 5 percent), is a classic example of what evolutionary mechanism?
What is the primary function of a molecular clock in evolutionary biology?
What is required to 'calibrate' a molecular clock for a more precise estimate of age?
The comparison of human and mouse genomes reveals what about their protein-coding genes and genome structure?
What is the term for gene flow that occurs between different species?
Which of the following describes the accumulation of changes over a long period of time, including those significant enough to result in the creation of new species?
What is the primary difference between evolution and acclimatization?
Which evolutionary mechanism refers to random variations in allele frequencies that happen from generation to generation, and tends to be amplified in small populations?
Human ancestry tests that trace maternal lineage and paternal lineage use which types of DNA, respectively, because they do not undergo recombination?
According to the text, what is the scientific conclusion regarding the genetic separation of racial groups?
What is the term for a group of related genes found in different species that are descended from a common ancestral gene?
Which of the following processes is most likely to reduce the genetic differences between two partially isolated populations?
What does genome synteny refer to in evolutionary genetics?
The text states that inbreeding in dog breeds has led to an increased incidence of genetic disease. This is because inbreeding increases the likelihood of what?
Human ancestry tests often analyze haplotypes. Why are haplotypes more informative for predicting ancestry than single SNPs?
What evolutionary mechanism is exemplified by the presence of Neanderthal DNA in the genomes of many modern humans?
What is the primary source of all new genetic variation in a population?
Why are highly variable regions of the genome, like the mitochondrial D-loop, less useful for comparing relationships among distantly related species?
Which of the following describes the bottleneck effect?
What evolutionary pressure has likely led to lighter skin tones in human populations that migrated to areas nearer the poles?
For speciation to occur, what must be minimized between two or more populations?
The duplication of the p53 tumor suppressor gene in elephants is an example of the evolution of what?
What is the term for a branch on an evolutionary family tree or cladogram?
On a cladogram, what do shorter branches between two samples generally represent?
The text discusses human migration and states that there is evidence of 'reverse migration'. What does this imply about human evolution?
What is the primary reason that human ancestry testing companies have historically had more reference data for European populations than for other continents?
Why are conserved regions of the genome less useful for establishing relationships within a single species?
In the analogy of a coin flip used to describe genetic drift, why would you not expect to get one million heads in a row when flipping a coin one million times?
Darwin's proposal of 'survival of the fittest' is the basis for which mechanism of evolution?
According to the text, the loss of limbs in snakes is suggested to be linked to differences in what kind of genetic element compared to other vertebrates?
What is linkage disequilibrium?
The text describes an individual's physiological changes at high altitude, such as producing more red blood cells, as an example of what?
Which of the following conditions must be met for a new allele to become fixed in a population and reach Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?
What is a key difference between natural selection and genetic drift?
The accumulation of mutations in a molecular clock needs to be 'calibrated' because the rate of mutation can differ based on which factors?
Why are indigenous populations in the Americas and Pacific Islands more genetically homogenous than those in Africa?
What is the primary evolutionary advantage for genetically diverse populations compared to genetically homogenous ones?
What does it mean for a region of the genome to be 'highly conserved'?
Large-scale structural variants, such as gene duplication, can lead to the formation of structurally related genes called what?
When comparing the genomes of two individuals of the same race versus two individuals of different races, what is the likely outcome according to the text?