DNA: Regulation of Gene Expression Flashcards
Who discovered the structure of DNA?
Crystallography - Rosaline Franklin
Double Helix - James Watson and Francis Crick
Who discovered nucleic acid?
Friedrich Miescher
What did Kossel and Levene show about DNA?
DNA consist of repeating molecule containing sugar, nitrogenous base, and phosphate
Why was it believed that protein were the genetic material of DNA back then?
Protein were more complex than to DNA. Protein had 20 amino acids while DNA had 4 bases
What was the first key experiment that led to the identification of DNA as genetic material?
Frederick Griffith Experiment
How did the Griffith Experiment work?
There were two strains of bacteria:
R Stand (non lethal) and S Strain (lethal)
Griffith injected R strand into the mice and the mice live. He also injected the S strain which cause the mice to die.
Then Griffith killed all the S cell and injected the cell into the mouse and the mouse live
He then mix the R strain with the dead S strain and injected into the mouse. The mouse died
What was the conclusion of the griffith experiment?
The experiment sowed that material could be transferred from a heat-killed virulent strain to a non-virulent strain, making the non-virulent strain virulent; transformation
Who support that DNA was the genetic material after the Griffith Experiment?
Avery, MacLeod and McCarty
What did Avery MacLeod and
McCarty demonstrate?
DNA component in S Strain cell caused the appearance of S Strain, while all other components such as RNA, protein, lipid, and carbohydrate result in R Strain
Who validated that DNA was the genetic material?
Hershey Chase
What happened during the Hershey Chase experiment?
T2 Virus were used because it’s only made of protein and DNA. The virus inject its genetic material into a bacterium so that its viral cap will be empty. Two batches of bacteria were made
To determine whether the genetic material of the virus is made of protein or DNA, radioactive phosphorus was used as a label on one batch and radioactive sulfur on the other batch.
Result: P label DNA entered the bacteria while S label protein remained in the solution.
Conclusion: Phosphorus fused with the bacteria, proving that DNA was the genetic material because DNA lacks sulfur and protein lacks phosphorus
Why was phosphorus and sulfur used in the Hershey Chase experiment?
DNA lacks sulfur and protein lacks phosphorus
Conclusion of Hershey Chase experiment?
Conclusion: Phosphorus fused with the bacteria, proving that DNA was the genetic material because DNA lacks sulfur and protein lacks phosphorus
What makes up a nucleotide?
Base + Pentose + Phosphate
What bases are purines?
Adenine and Guanine
What bases are pyrimidines?
Cytosine and Thymine
What is Chargaff’s Rule?
- base composition varied
significantly from species to species - Base composition was constant
within the species, no matter if DNA came from tissue or organ. - Most importantly, A=T and G=C, that is A and T were present in equimolar amounts as were G and C, and A+T
did not equal G+C
What are the three rules of structure of DNA
- 5’ to 3’
- Antiparallel
- DNA Double Helix
How are nucleotides held together?
Phosphodiester Bond
Why is DNA strand polar?
Because the ester linkages to the sugar molecules on either side of the bond are different. 5’ start with phosphate while 3’ ends with hydroxyl
What holds the two polynucleotide chains of DNA double helix together?
Hydrogen bonding between the bases of different strands
Why is the base pairing of G-C more stable than A-T
G-C has three hydrogen bonding and A-T only has two.
What helps stack the bases on top of each other in DNA
Hydrophobic Interaction and Van der waals
What are the major and minor grooves on DNA?
Spaces between the turns of the helix forms
Why are grooves important in DNA?
important sites for DNA/protein interactions
What’s the direction of the central dogma?
DNA -> RNA -> Protein
the transfer of information from nucleic acid to nucleic acid, or from nucleic acid to protein may be possible, but transfer from protein to protein, or from protein to nucleic acid is impossible
What are chromosomes?
very long, single DNA molecules associated with proteins that fold and pack the DNA into a compact structure
What does DNA package itself into?
Chromosomes
What helps DNA in eukaryotic cells package into chromosomes?
Specialized protein called histones
How is DNA stored in prokaryotes?
It’s store as a single circular molecule - bacterial chromosomes
What are chromatin?
mixture of DNA and proteins that form the chromosomes in eukaryotes
What are genes?
a segment of DNA that contains the instructions for making a particular protein or RNA
What are genome?
The total DNA complement of an organism
What are karyotypes?
an ordered display of chromosomes in the nucleus of a
eukaryotic cell
Rank the order from smallest to largest:
Genome, Gene, Chromosome, Chromatin
Gene -> Chromatin -> Chromosome -> Genome
Does more complex organism result in larger genome?
Not always, Genome size does not always correlate with organism complexity
Human have a genome pool 200x larger than yeast but 30 smaller times than that of some plant
What happens to chromosomes in the interphase?
Chromosomes get duplicated
What happens to chromosomes in the mitotic phase?
Chromosomes are segregation
Why would chromosomes contain multiple replication origin?
To allow the long DNA molecules to be replicated rapidly
What are telomeres?
A DNA sequence that marks the end of a chromosome
What does telomeres do?
Allow the end of the chromosome to be replicated and protect the chromosome tips from being mistaken by the cell as broken DNA in need of repair
What are centromere?
DNA sequence that allow duplicated chromosome to be separated during the M phase
Why is it important that chromosomes are dynamic?
For DNA packaging to be more accessible. Chromatin can exposed localized region of DNA to allow proteins access to modify the DNA (repair or replication)
What enables DNA packing?
Nucleosome
What are nucleosomes?
Basic units of eukaryotic chromatin structure
DNA + 8 Histones