11.3-11.8 Vocab

Question 1

Transcription factors

Answer 1

In the eukaryotic cell, a protein that functions in initiating or regulating transcription. Transcription factors bind to DNA or to other proteins that bind to DNA

Question 2

Enhancers

Answer 2

A eukaryotic DNA sequence that helps stimulate the transcription of a gene at some distance from it. An enhanced functions by means of a transcription factor called an activator, which binds to it and then to the rest of of the transcription apparatus.

Question 3

Alternative RNA splicing

Answer 3

A type of regulation at the RNA-processing level in which multiple mRNA molecules are produced from the same primary transcript, depending on which RNA segments are treated as exons and which as introns

Question 4

microRNAs

Answer 4

A small, single-stranded RNA molecule that associates with one or more proteins in a complex that can degrade or prevent translation of an mRNA with a complementary sequence

Question 5

Small interfering mRNAs

Answer 5

A small, single-stranded RNA molecule that associates with one or more proteins in a complex that can degrade or prevent translation of an mRNA with a complementary sequence

Question 6

RNA interference

Answer 6

A biotechnology technique used to silence the expression of specific genes. Synthetic RNA molecules with sequences that correspond to particular genes trigger the breakdown of the gene’s mRNA

Question 7

Homeotic gene

Answer 7

A master control gene that determines the identity of a body structure of a developing organism, presumably by controlling the developmental fate of groups of cells