Abstract
This chapter presents a concise introduction to molecular genetics. While readers familiar with the field of genetics may find this article trivial, those readers less experienced in the area may consider this a kind of ‘refresher’, still others may be new to the area, having not heard about this topic since their biology classes at school. Our aim is to provide all of our readers with new knowledge—or at least a different perspective—on molecular genetics, with a particular emphasis on the neuroeconomics framework. Being mindful of the varying levels of familiarity with genetics our readership may have, we want to provide a ‘crash course’ that starts with the very basics in genetics and concludes with the most recent developments and perspectives in the field. Our own experience from interdisciplinary cooperative projects is that our colleagues from other disciplines, such as economics, often ask for a simple introduction to behavioral genetics. Unfortunately, we were unaware of any reference to date that fits this description. It is for this reason we decided to write this chapter and to ask experts in other neuroscientific fields to do the same in this book for methods like EEG, MRI, etc.
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Notes
- 1.
The human genome consists of 23 pairs of chromosomes, which are divided into gonosomes and autosomes. Gonosomes (the X and the Y chromosomes) refer to the chromosomes defining human sex. The XX genotype marks the female and the XY genotype the male gender. Autosomes are all other chromosomes which are not gonosomes. There is also additional genetic information on mitochondrial DNA.
- 2.
Cytoplasm refers to both cytosol and the organelles. Cytosol is the fluid substance in the cell separated from the outer cell wall by the cell membrane. Organelles refer to structures such as ribosomes within the cell.
- 3.
Thermostability describes how stable a certain structure is in the face of rising temperature.
- 4.
This thermostable enzyme called Thermus aquaticus (Taq) has not been “invented” by a scientist, but has been extracted naturally from a hot thermal spring called Morning Glory Pool in the US national park Yellowstone.
- 5.
The great variance of temperatures in a PCR explain why a thermostable enzyme is needed and scientists are lucky to have found such an enzyme in nature.
- 6.
In silico means that the designs are conducted on a computer.
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Reuter, M., Felten, A., Montag, C. (2016). Molecular Genetics. In: Reuter, M., Montag, C. (eds) Neuroeconomics. Studies in Neuroscience, Psychology and Behavioral Economics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35923-1_23
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