or each of the following genetic topics, indicate whether it focuses on transmission genetics, molecular genetics, genomics or population genetics. Use all lower case for answers. A. Analysis of pedigree to determine the probability of someone inheriting a trait. B. Study of the genetic history of people on a small island to determine why a genetic form of asthma is so prevalent on the island. C. The influence of environment on the expression of a gene. D. Comparing the genomes of monkey with that of human beings. E. Mechanisms that ensure a high degree of accuracy during DNA replication.

A. transmission genetics

B. population genetics

C. molecular genetics

D. genomics

E. molecular genetics

Explanation:

Transmission genetics can be defined as the study of the mechanisms involved in the inheritance of genetic material by offspring from parents. This discipline started with the discovery of inherited characteristics in pea plants by Mendel (1865).

Population genetics is a subdiscipline of genetics that studies genetic variation within and between populations. Population genetics is an area that explains how allele and genotypic frequencies change across time, thereby this subdiscipline is closely linked to evolutionary biology.

Genomics is a broad area of genetics that studies the function, evolution, structure, function, mapping and comparison of genomes (i.e., the whole genetic material contained in each cell of a given organism). This discipline aims at understanding entire gene pools. Genomics includes different research areas including structural genomics, functional genomics, epigenomics and metagenomics.

Molecular genetics is a sub-discipline of genetics that studies the mechanisms involved in preserving the genetic material (i.e., DNA and RNA), and to understand how the structure and expression of the genetic material influence the observed variation among organisms.

"1. it should be, it has been for about 20 years, and it's really not much different in the end than breeding animals to have particular traits. there are always concerns about genetically engineered animals/plants affecting the environment in unexpected negative ways, but i can't think of an example where the fears didn't turn out to be baseless.  

first, as you point out, it would be a great advance in pharmacology, to be able to tailor drugs and their doses to me. the pros involve better medical treatment. the cons involve privacy issues like insurance companies denying coverage to people with genetic risk factors. looking at dna markers wouldn't affect the frequency of genetic diseases, but it would allow detection of them earlier. and ok, actually i suppose that if people used this information to avoid having children with genetic diseases, some might decrease in frequency."