Exam 3 Flashcards
What is the shape of bacterial chromosomes?
Bacterial chromosomes are circular (often bacteria have both genomic DNA and plasmids; circular-replicated and segregated at cell division)
What are Chromosomes and why is size so important?
- Very large; genomic DNA/RNA longer than what they are found in so must be compacted
- Chromosomes themselves are macromolecular entities that must be synthesized, packaged, protected, and properly distributed amongst daughter cells at cell divisions
what is the shape of virus chromosomes?
Viruses (genomes made of DNA or RNA; circular or linear) (single or double-stranded)
What is the most common shape of eukaryotes chromosomes?
linear (vary in number depending on species)
Which organelles contain their own circular genome?
Mitochondria and chloroplasts
What types of cells are most common in humans and when is it not?
most cells are diploid except when they are haploid seen in gametes
Describe chromosome lengths in nature.
-Longer than the cellular or even viral packages containing them
-Eukaryotes: A yeast cell, one of the simplest eukaryotes, has 2.6 times more DNA in its
genome than an E. coli cell. Cells
of Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly used in classical genetics studies contains more than 35 times as much DNA as E. coli cells, and human cells have almost 700 times as much.
-Typical cell is 7-30 um across; nucleus 10 um diameter
-Diploid Human DNA stretched 2m from one cell (2million um)
What are the 3 DNA sequences dedicated to the maintenance of chromosomes?
*Replication: initiation and termination
*Origins of replications (ORIs)
*Segregation during cell division (centromeres which are important for mitotic events)
*Protection of chromosomes: telomeres (specialized DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes)
What is a centromere?
A segment of each eukaryotic chromosome that is AT-rich and functions during cell division as an attachment point for proteins that link the chromosome to the mitotic spindle at metaphase
Why is the centromere important to the chromosome?
-This is necessary for the orderly and even distribution of chromosomes in daughter cells
-Biding sites for cen proteins( centromere proteins)
-ESSENTIAL FOR STABLE SEGREGATION OF CHROMOSOMES DURING CELL DIVISION
What is a telomere?
Telomeres are sequences at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes that add stability by protecting the ends from nucleases and providing unique mechanisms for the faithful replication of DNA
Why is telomere important for chromosomes?
- This is necessary because DNA polymerases have a built-in problem during synthesis where base pairs get cut out
- Telomeres bind to specialized proteins needed for proper function
long sets of nucleotides that work like repeating sequences surrounded by proteins
* 5’-(TxGy)n ;x and y are generally between 1 and 4
* N is 20-100 in most single-celled eukaryotes but 1500 in mammals
Explain the idea of telomere repeating sequences
long sets of nucleotides that work like repeating sequences for example (TTAGGG)xn is the fragment that continues to repeat at the ends of chromosomes where proteins create protection
* 5’-(TxGy)n ;x and y are generally between 1 and 4
* N is 20-100 in most single-celled eukaryotes but 1500 in mammals
Which are smaller Mitochodniral DNA molecules or nuclear chromosomes?
Mitochondrial DNA molecules
what is a larger animal or plant mt DNA
plant
how does chloroplast DNA exist
cpDNA circular duplexes 120 to 160 kbp
organelle DNA undergoes ?
considerable compaction like nuclear DNA
what does mtDNA encode for in the mitochondrial
tRNAs and rRNAs and a few proteins that are necessary for cellular respiration.
what are 95% of mtProteins encoded by ?
nuclear DNA
about 37 genes of 20,000 are encoded by?
mitochondria
What is also passed on when cell division occurs?
Mitochondria and chloroplasts divide when the cell divides. Their DNA is replicated before and during
cell division and the daughter DNA molecules pass into the daughter organelles.
How is mitochondria DNA inherited?
maternally in humans and other organism
what are some theories about why mitochondrial DNA is maternal?
- We don’t fully understand why—lots of theories
- Sperm mitochondria self-destruct upon
fertilization? (shown in C. elegans) - Autophagosomes, for instance, are known to engulf paternal mitochondria shortly after a sperm penetrates an egg.
- Some evidence that there is paternal mitochondrial DNA in some individuals?
what genetic testing has been spawned by maternal inheritance?
services like 23andMe to trace our maternal ancestries.
DNA replication is very complex. true or false?
true
DNA replication is similar between which domains?
bacteria archaea and eukaryotes it’s highly conserved
what two steps are key for the regulation of DNA replication?
Initiation and termination
What type of mechanism is replication and its direction?
semiconservative directionality of 5’-3’ bidirectional from origins
where does replication begin?
ORI ( origin of replication)
Enzymes and chemistry make up?
DNA polymerase
DNA replication mechanism has?
replication fork and lagging versus leading strand synthesis
What are the 3 proposed models for replication?
Conservative, semiconservative, Dispersive
Explain how it was discovered semiconservative was the right system for DNA replication.
- By using isotopes N14 ( labels light DNA) and N15 which labels heavy strands of DNA you can place them in a CsCl solution to cause separation by mass.
- In the first generation by replicating DNA and centrifuging it the observed result was a single layer separation due to equal portions of Parent and first replication existing together lead semiconservative or dispersive being possible explanations
- In a second-generation experiment the observed effect is the formation of two clear layers of light and mix which corresponds to the semiconservative idea for DNA replication.
Conservative model
DNA replication leads to the original strands remaining together
-In 1st generation, we see 2 DNA duplexes 2 old together and 2 new together
-2nd generation 4 duplex form where we have 2 old strands together and the formation of a duplex that is all new
semiconservative model
There is a mixture of strands between old and new
-1st generation old and new for two new duplex
-2nd generation the formation of two duplexes between old and new strands and the formation of two new duplexes made up of new strands
Could density gradient determine or distinguish where synthesis was initiated on a chromosome?
No, they could not
How was ORI detected?
using replication in bacteria ( plasmid with radioactive e DNA and electron microscopy
Does DNA completely unwind during replication?
NO
Replication fork
The point where the parental duplex separates and the daughter duplexes form was the site of new DNA synthesis
bidirectional replication
two replication forks are formed at the origin and propagate away from it in opposite directions.
why is plasmid a good model?
The same replication process in the bacterial chromosome as in the plasmid
What does the replication fork consist of?
The Y-shaped replication fork consists of a parental duplex DNA stem and two prongs, the new daughter duplexes.
What is the direction of the DNA strands in the fork?
The parental DNA strands are antiparallel, so the links between nucleotides in the two daughter strands also run in opposite directions.
What direction does DNA polymerase enzyme synthesize?
extend DNA in only one direction 5’-3’
Why does the limited directionality of DNA polymerase cause a hiccup in replication?
*both daughter strands cannot be replicated in the same direction in which the replication fork moves.
* DNA polymerase cannot initiate DNA chains; these must be initiated by primers. In the cell, the primers at a replication fork are RNA, synthesized by an enzyme called primase.
What is the direction of synthesis DNA polymerase a reference to?
the direction in which each new nucleotide is chemically linked to the growing daughter strand.
how does the DNA polymerase function of linking happen?
*by linking the α-5′- phosphate of a new dNTP to the 3′ position of the nucleotide residue at the end (i.e., the 3′ end) of the chain.
*Thus, the directionality is 5’-3’ in terms of the growth of the strand
Semidiscontinous
- Only one daughter strand is synthesized continuously; the other is made as a series of discontinuous fragments.
* The strand that is made in the direction opposite to fork movement is still synthesized in the 5′→3′ direction, and thus the strand must be reinitiated at intervals and synthesized as a series of fragments
leading strand
the continuously synthesized daughter stand
lagging strand
the discontinuous daughter strand
what is the idea of lagging based on?
The “lagging” designation is based on the fact that some unreplicated single-stranded DNA is generated on the lagging strand by the moving fork, so the conversion to duplex DNA on this strand lags behind that of the leading strand.
How were Okazaki fragments found?
- Okazaki used E. coli cells infected with T4 phage.
- Because T4 makes many copies of itself simultaneously, detection of lagging-strand fragments is made easier by their abundance.
- T4-infected E. coli cells were labeled with radioactive nucleotide precursors for brief time intervals, then the DNA was analyzed in an alkaline CsCl gradient to separate the new radioactive DNA strand from the unlabeled parental strands
- Small fragments in the 1,000 to 2,000 nucleotide (1 to 2 kb) range were observed, as predicted, and have come to be known as Okazaki fragments.
What is the size of Okazaki Fragments?
1-2kb long in bacteria but are shorter about 100 to 200 nucleotides in eukaryotes
how is the Okazaki fragment primed?
at the 5’ end by a short RNA of 10-13 nucleotides long.
RNA primer is removed by?
nuclease action and the Okazaki fragments are joined by ligase soon after the replication fork has passed.
When was the first DNA polymerase discovered?
1950s
What was the original discovered DNA polymerase?
E.coli DNA polymerase I
how many polymerases are in E.coli?
5
Pol 1 mainly functions as a?
damage repair and connecting Okazaki fragments
describe the direction of the exonuclease of each 3’-5’ and 5’3’
Pol 1
Pol 2
Pol 3
Pol 4
Pol 5
- both
- 3’-5’
- 3’-5’
- none
- none
functions of the 5 Pol
pol 1 - Ozaki fragment processing (remove RNA primers and fill gaps with DNA)
pol 3- chromosome replication
pol 2,4,5- translesion synthesis (DNA repair)
what guides the polymerization reaction in DNA polymerase?
template strand