Chapter 15 Flashcards
A protein that binds to DNA and stimulates gene transcription. In prokaryotes, they bind in or near the promoter; in eukaryotes, they generally bind to control elements in enhancers
Activator
A type of eukaryotic gene regulation at the RNA-processing level in which different mRNA molecules are produced from the same primary transcript, depending on which RNA segments are treated as exons and which as introns.
Alternative RNA splicing
A double-stranded DNA molecules made in vitro using mRNA as a a template and the enzymes reverse transcriptase and DNA polymerase. A cDNA molecule corresponds to the exons of a gene
Complementary DNA
A segment of non coding DNA that helps regulate transcription of a gene by serving as a binding site for a transcription factor. Multiple of these are present in a eukaryotic gene’s enhancer
Control element
A small molecules that binds to a bacterial protein and changes the protein’s shape, allowing it to bind to the operator and switch an operon off
Corepressor
Cyclic adenosine monophosphate, a ring shaped molecule made from ATP that is a common intracellular signaling molecule (second messenger) in eukaryotic cells. It is also a regulator of some bacterial operons
Cyclic AMP (cAMP)
The expression of different sets of genes by cells with the same genome
Differential gene expression
The presence of methyl groups on the DNA bases (usually cytosine) of plants, animals, and fungi (the term also refers to the process of adding methyl groups to DNA bases.)
DNA methylation
A method to detect and measure the expression of thousands of genes at one time. Tiny amounts of a large number of single-stranded DNA fragments representing different genes are fixed to a glass slide and tested for hybrid I action with samples of labeled cDNA
DNA microarray assay
A segment of eukaryotic DNA containing multiple control elements, usually located far from the gene whose transcription it regulates
Enhancer
Inheritance of traits transmitted by mechanisms not directly involving the nucleotide sequence of a genome
Epigenetic inheritance
The attachment of acetyl groups to certain amino acids of his tone proteins
Histone acetylation
A technique using nucleic acid hybridization with a labeled probe to detect the location of a specific mRNA in an intact organism
in situ hybridization
A specific small molecule that binds to a bacterial depressor protein and changes the repressor’s shape so that it cannot bind to an operator, thus switching an operon on.
Inducer
A small, single-stranded RNA molecule, generated from a hairpin structure on a precursor RNA transcribed from a particular gene. The blank associates with one or more proteins in a complex that can degrade or prevent translation of an mRNA with a complementary sequence
microRNA
The process of base pairing between a gene and a complementary sequence on another nucleic acid molecule
Nucleic acid hybridization
In DNA technology, a labeled single-stranded nucleic acid molecule used to locate a specific nucleotide sequence in a nucleic acid sample. Molecules of the probe hydrogen-bond to the complementary sequence wherever it occurs; radioactive, fluorescent, or other labeling of the probe allows its location to be detected
Nucleic acid probe
In bacterial and phage DNA, a sequence of nucleotides near the start of an operon to which an active repressor can attach. The binding of the repressor prevents RNA polymerase from attaching to the promoter and transcribing the genes of the operon
Operator
A unit of genetic function found in bacteria and phage, consisting of a promoter, an operator, and a coordinately regulated cluster of genes whose products function in a common pathway.
Operon
A gene that codes for a protein, such as a repressor, that controls that transcription of another gene or a group of genes
Regulatory gene
A protein that inhibits gene transcription. In prokaryotes, they bind to the DNA in or near the promoter. In eukaryotes, they bind to control elements within enhancer, to activator, or to other protein in a way that blocks activators from binding to DNA
Repressor
A technique for determining expression of a particular gene. It uses reverse transcriptase and DNA polymerase to synthesize cDNA from all the mRNA in a sample and then subjects the cDNA to PCR amplification using primers specific to the gene of interest. I
Reverse transcriptase- polymerase chain reaction
A technique used to silence the expression of selected genes. It uses synthetic double-stranded RNA molecules that match the sequence of a particular gene to trigger the breakdown of the gene’s messenger RNA
RNA interference
On of multiple small, single stranded RNA molecules generated by cellular machinery from a long, linear, double-stranded RNA molecule. The blank associates with one or more proteins in a complex that can degrade or prevent translation of an mRNA with a complementary sequence. In some cases, blank can also block transcription by promoting chromatin modification
Small interfering RNA
