(Solved) ·Model organisms are used to study genetics. Whst are important characteristics of model organism?

lillianw2005

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10 years ago

·Model organisms are used to study genetics. Whst are important characteristics of model organism?

Name several model organisms

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miap27

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10 years ago

This is not really my field of practice ...but probably the most important characteristic of such model organism should be the number and size of the chromosomes.....i know about drosophilla melanogaster (the winegar fly) which has gigantic chromosomes.

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davdwmck

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10 years ago

mus musculus (mouse)
drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly)
yeast

lesser used:
frog
pig

All of the above have different properties that make it suitable for study, but in general, model organisms must breed quickly and prolifically. They must have been studied extensively. More complex organisms are favored when it is necessary to conduct tests on an organism that is more similar to humans - though these organisms are usually also more difficult to work with.

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firefighter118

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10 years ago

Model organisms should have relatively small genome, should reproduce fast, and should be easily to handled in a lab. Pig is certainly not a good model organism, primarily because of it's size.

Model organisms used in genetics & molecular biology are:
insects: fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster)
mamals: rat (Rattus norvegicus) & mouse (Mus musculus)
fish: zebra fish (Brachydanio rerio)
worms: C. elegans
higher plants: Arabidopsis thaliana
bacteria: E. coli
etc etc.......

However, every biological field can have specific model organisms that are suitable and well studied for specific type of experiments. For example, in the study of physiology of seed germination and dormancy, lettuce seeds were widely used as a model.

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DeviSingh

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10 years ago

This verified answer contains over 220 words.

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·Model organisms are used to study genetics. Whst are important characteristics of model organism?

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