Sequences of a mammal find an association between variants at a SNP in an enzyme and coat color.Biologists do not know whether the coat color differences are actually due to that SNP or are just correlated with the SNP and are instead due to other differences.What would be the most appropriate way to find out whether the association between the SNP and coat color was causal?
A) Use CRISPR technology to alter the expression of the gene.
B) Use CRISPR technology to mutate the SNP.
C) Use RNAi to alter expression of the gene.
D) Use RNAi to mutate the SNP.
E) Use antisense RNA to mutate the SNP.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The most appropriate way to determine whether the association between the SNP and coat color is causal is to use CRISPR technology to mutate the SNP. This will allow the researchers to directly test the effect of the SNP on coat color by comparing the coat color of animals with the mutated SNP to those with the original SNP. Manipulating the enzyme expression (choices A and C) or using antisense RNA (choice E) do not directly test the effect of the SNP on coat color, and using RNAi to mutate the SNP (choice D) is not a valid option because RNAi is not capable of introducing mutations into the genome.

Sequences of a Mammal Find an Association Between Variants at a SNP