1. The Human Genome and Normal Variation (2) Flashcards
WHAT IS A GENE? (3)
- Genes are made up of DNA
- Basic physical unit of inheritance
- Contain information needed to specify trait
How many genes do we have?
- Size of the genome
- DNA consists of two chains of two polynucleotide
chains in an antiparallel configuration - Upstream vs downstream
- 5’ = _______
- 3’ = ________
upstream
downstream
COMPONENTS OF THE GENE: (8)
- Exons
- Introns
- Regulatory regions
- Enhancers
- Promoter
- Transcription start site
- Transcription end site
- Translation start and stop sites
- Untranslated regions
What are exons? (3)
What are introns? (4)
- Non-coding regions between exons
- Larger than exons ~3000bp long (length varies)
- Interrupted genes consist of introns and exons
- Intron position usually conserved
REGULATORY SEQUENCES/ REGIONS: (3)
Upstream of the gene
Enhancers and Promoters
Regulate transcription of gene to mRNA
What are ENHANCERS? (4)
- Increase efficiency and rate of transcription
- Found on same strand of DNA
- Upstream
- downstream
- Proximal or thousands of nucleotides away
- Act as silencers
- Control region of a gene
What are PROMOTERS? (4)
- Special sequence that signals the start of the gene (TATAA Box)
- Located upstream of a gene (5’ end)
- Binds transcription factors
- Facilitates recruitment and binding of RNA polymerase II and initiation of transcription
What is the transcription start site? (4)
- Promoter = signal for transcription factors and RNA polymerase
- Terminator sequence signals for the end of transcription
- Transcription starts at the beginning of exon 1 and ends at the end of the last exon
- RNA sequence = pre-mRNA
RNA PROCESSING
* Gene is ________ (pre-mRNA)
* Modifications
* _____ are removed (Spliced out)
* Mature mRNA
* Ready for _______ process
transcribed
Introns
translation
What is SPLICING? (4)
- Pre-mRNA = mRNA prior removal of introns
- Removal of the intron sequences from the pre-mRNA
- Occurs specifically at the intron/exon boundaries
- The intron sequences immediately flanking the exon/intron boundarie
Which regions are conserved during splicing?
- Regions are largely conserved,
- splice sites or splice junctions
- 5’ splice site
- 3’ splice site
What are the SPLICE SITES?
What is the difference between splicing and transcription?
What is TRANSLATION? (3)
What are the start and stop codons?