B13.

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Student activity
Name ...................................................................... Class .................. Date .....................

Why does the genome matter?

Specification references
 6.1.4 DNA and the genome
 WS 1.1
 WS 1.4

Learning outcomes
After completing this worksheet, you should be able to:
 describe what the human genome project is
 describe some of the benefits of studying the human genome.

Aims
The human genome project was one of the major biological programmes of the
last 20 years. At the outset biologists believed that sequencing all human genes
could provide answers to many questions, such as the causes of some diseases
and the origin of some species. In this worksheet you will learn about the history
of the human genome project and evaluate its impact

Task
Refer to Topic 13.4, DNA and the genome, in the student book, and then answer
the following questions, which should support your understanding of this topic.

Questions
1 Define the term ‘genome’.

(1 mark)

2 In the 1990s biologists started the human genome project.

a What was the original aim of the human genome project?

(1 mark)

© Oxford University Press 2016 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements

This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 1
 B13.4
Student activity
Name ...................................................................... Class .................. Date .....................

b Identify where scientists were able to obtain human DNA for analysis in the
human genome project.

(2 marks)

c Describe how the human genome project has been extended.

(1 mark)

d Suggest a reason why the project was extended.

(1 mark)

e Describe the advantages of the scientists being organised into teams

around the world to work on the human genome project.

(2 marks)

f Describe how scientists used genome sequencing techniques (such as the

human genome project) to establish a classification relationship between two
species.

(2 marks)

© Oxford University Press 2016 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements

This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 2
 B13.4
Student activity
Name ...................................................................... Class .................. Date .....................

Student follow-up
The human genome project took 12 years to complete and cost $3 billion.
Evaluate some of the benefits of the project to humans.

© Oxford University Press 2016 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements

This resource sheet may have been changed from the original. 3