Homework

Weekly homework submissions:

• Week 1 HW: Principles and Practices

  Question Responses

• Week 2 Pre-Lecture HW: DNA Read Write and Edit

  Pre-lecture 2 homework questions: Question 1: What is the error rate of polymerase? How does this compare to the length of the human genome. How does biology deal with that discrepancy? Response: The error rate of DNA polymerase varies between 1 in 104 to 1 in 105. The length of the human genome is 3 * 109 base pairs, this would mean hundereds of mutations every cell division. However, biology dealt with that discrepancy through proofreading, which decreases the error rate to about 1 in 107, along with other correcting methods like mismatch repair, DNA damage checkpoints, and if there is still severe mutation detected, the cell will go into apoptosis.