Final Exam Flashcards
RNA processing
Governs how, when, and whether RNA will be used
in a cell
Primary Transcripts
- All eukaryotic RNAs and some Bacterial RNAs are synthesized as biologically inactive precursors that must be chemically modified during or immediately following transcription
- Cleavage and/or joining of RNA strands and sometimes modification
- Errors in splicing can lead to problems like cystic fibrosis and spinal muscular atrophy
*Once an mRNA transcript has reached the end of its utility in the cell, it is subject to a final type of RNA processing—degradation. Specific enzymes remove the 5′ cap and the 3′ poly(A) tail, and the rest of the RNA is broken down by cleavage of the phosphodiester backbone.
RNA processing is catalyzed by
RNA (splicesome) and Proteins
-different locations in bacteria vs eukaryotes
mRNA RNA processing occurs in?
- In the nucleus
- Post-processing, mRNA is exported to the
cytoplasm
what are the 3 major modifications that occur during mRNA processing?
- 5’ end gets a 7-Methylguanylate cap (protective)
- 3’ end gets a poly A tail 100-250 nt long
- Introns are spliced out
- Regular splicing
- Alternative splicing
What is responsible for the 3 major modifications in mRNA processing
- Enzymes responsible for these three events do not operate independently, they work together
- Processing is also coupled to transport from the nucleus to the cytoplasm
Describe the steps to get from DNA to mRNA
1.Transcription, 5’ capping
2. Endonuclease causes cleavage at the poly-A site
3.Poly A polymerase(PAP) + ATP do polyadenylation
4.RNA splicing occurs
RNA capping has what type of bond
- 5’,5’ triphosphate linkage
What is the name of the capping enzyme?
guanylyltransferase
Describe how capping occurs and why it’s important.
Only RNAs made by RNA pol II are capped because the mechanism is specific to the C terminus of the RNA polymerase
* As the nascent RNA emerges, at about 20-30 nt into the process, capping occurs
—This is one mark of RNA as an mRNA
* crucial for binding of the mRNA to the ribosome during translation
In experiments what happens when the 5’ cap isn’t present?
The 5′ cap requirement for ribosome binding and translation., if the 5’ is missing it is seen that all mRNA is unbound
How long is the Poly A tail and why is it significant to mRNA
- PolyA tail is about 80-250 nt long
- 3’polyadenylated mRNAs survive much longer because they are protected from exonuclease activity through binding of protective enzymes
How is the poly-A tail added?
- PolyA tail is added in multiple steps involving polyadenylation factors, polyadenylate polymerase (PAP), and poly(A) binding protein PABP
- The first thing that happens is that Pol II extends the transcript beyond the site where the polyA tail is to be added
- Cleavage happens at the polyA addition site by an endonuclease enzyme associated with the C terminus of the Pol II enzyme
Polyadenyoaton factors are associated with?
Pol 2 during transcription
mRNA capping polyadenylation and splicing are coordinated by
- All about the association with Pol II
- The C terminus of the Pol II proteins associates
with factors involved in these processes - RNA processing can therefore basically occur simultaneously with transcription
- This leads to rapid processing and production of mature mRNAs
What does the Splicing and editing do for the proteome
-both splicing and editing expand the coding capacity of the genome by creating mRNA that is directly encoded by the DNA
-Proteome shows that in any case the number of different proteins greatly exceeds the number of identified genes.
What is splicing and what are some of the aspect due to splicing?
- Splicing (does not occur in bacteria)
-Ordered breaking and joining of specific phosphodiester bonds to - Splicing also prepares mRNAs to be recognized by proteins that export them from the nucleus and promote their translation by the ribosome.
achieve the precise excision of introns - Requires accurate base pairing between pre-mRNA and splicing machinery
- Spliceosome is responsible for most splicing
- Small number of introns found in mitochondria, chloroplast, and bacteriophage are self-splicing
Describe introns
- In vertebrates, the vast majority of genes contain introns
- Histone genes are an absolute exception
- Most genes in simpler eukaryotes like yeast, lack
introns but some have them - Very rare but do occur in bacteria and archaea
- Very rare but do occur in some bacteriophage
- Introns seem to be important for the amount of mature mRNA that is produced
- Regulatory small RNAs for example come from introns often
- Are transcribed as part of the transcription process
- Size 50-20000 nucleotides while exons are 100- 1000 nt
what did the DNA-RNA hybrid reveal
the presence of introns
what is the typical intron length in mammals
pre-mRNA includes eight introns with an aggregate length 5 to 10 times that of the flanking exons.
What is Alternative splicing?
Process in which exons in the primary transcript from a single gene are spliced together in various combinations to produce different mRNAs and thus different polypeptides
Describe some of the aspects seen due to alternative splicing
When we compare an organism’s genome to its proteome, in many cases, the number of different proteins greatly exceeds the number of different genes
* More than 90% of human genes undergo alternative splicing
* Certain exons are selected for inclusions and others are not, but the order of the exons does not change relative to the primary transcript
* Many mammalian genes have 2 or more alternatively spliced mRNAs (splice variants)
How does alternative splicing work?
- We don’t fully understand it
- Splice sites—nucleotide sequences within the intron and at the borders between introns and exons seem to be important
-Sometimes these sequences can be masked on purpose
Why is alternative splicing important?
- Alternative splicing can be important for human disease
-CD44 which is a cell surface receptor
— Inclusion of a specific exon in the spliced mRNAs is associated with the progression of certain tumors from localized to invasive growth
— Thus, understanding what determines exon choice during alternative splicing might lead to new therapeutic strategies to treat or prevent some cancers.
Splicesome and splicing have key parts that are conserved which are?
5’ splice site contains the GU
Branch point which is an A
3’ splice site contains AG
Describe the steps that occur during splicing without the proteins involved
1.The brain-points 2’OH attacks the 5’splice site
2. The 5’ splice site is now activated to attack the 3’ splice site
3. The intro is released from the spliced mRNA as a lariat
When splicing occurs what are the reactions occurring and what are the by-products from the reaction?
First transesterification and second transesterification
with spliced exons and excise lariat intron
snRNP’s
- Splicesome
- 5 small nuclear ribonucleoproteins + hundreds of additional
proteins - Each snRNP has a single small nuclear RNAs (snRNA)
-These snRNAs are very conserved - U1, U2, U4, U5, U6 snRNAs range in length 107-210 nucleotides
- Associated with 6-10 proteins
- There is base pairing between pre-mRNAs and snRNAs
Why is base pairing more important than exact nucleotide in of snRNPs with pre-mRNA?
improper base paring leads to blocking of splicing
Describe splicing with the presence of proteins
- U1 binds to the 5’ splice site and U2 binds to the branch point
- The U4-U6-U5 trimeric snRNP displace U1 at the 5’splice site, then U4 dissociates
- U6 and U2 catalyze attack of the branch point on the 5’ splice site
- the 5’ splice site attacks the 3 splice site completing the reaction
Why are U1 and U2 keys in splicing
U1 and U2 allow for the first transesterification to occur allowing splicing to commence
self-splicing was discovered by who and when?
Discovered by Tom Cech in the 1980s in Tetrahymena
Describe aspects of self-splicing
-400-1000nt
-group 1 and 2 introns
- found mostly in bacteria organelles and fungi
-do not need proteins to self-splice in vitro
Is self-splicing really able to do the work on its own?
It is important to note that group I and group II introns do require proteins for splicing in vivo—not for catalysis, but for forcing the pre-RNA into the correct conformation for splicing to occur.
RNA editing
- Change the sequence of an RNA after it has been transcribed
- Compare RNA sequence with genomic sequence because the edit is not happening at the genomic DNA level
- Substitution of bases
- Insertion or Deletion of bases (using guide RNAs)
- Editosome (16 proteins)
Editosome
- Complex of 16 proteins
- Guide RNA that are partially complementary to the pre-mRNA regions that will be changed (35-75 nt)
- U nucleotides are removed and added
- Substitutions involves deamination of A or C by enzyme called ADAR
cytidine deaminase
converts C to U
Describe one example of RNA editing causing changes of the same mRNA.
ApoB carries bad cholesterol “LDL”
Different versions of ApoB—affect the way cholesterol is metabolized
changing one nucleotide can encode C into a U and lead to a translated protein that is much shorter than the full-length protein
What organisms share the same genetic code with a few exceptions?
bacteria, yeast, amphibians, plants archaea, and humans
why is it significant that all organisms share a genetic code
the universality of the genetic code provides amazing strong, molecular evidence for evolution , much more compelling than argument based on body shapes and the fossil record
How many different nucleotides
4 different nucleoties
how many nucleotides combine to create the genetic code of proteins
combination of 3 nucleotides ( this produces possible 64 code words)
a combination of two wouldn’t be enough only making 16 code words
Genetic code aspects
DNA triplets to amino acids
-20 amino acids
-64 possible codons ( some specifically the same amino acid)
-61 specify amino acids
-3 specify stop
-methionine ( AUG, start) and tryptophan only have one codon
-Leucine, serine , arginine specified by six different codons
Explain how codon families are structured
the first two nucleotides are the same, the nucleotide at the third position does not matter and the base paring of the first 2 nucleotides is key
Name some of the exceptions to the universal code
UGA - Normally stop but can code for TRP
CUG - Normally Leu but can code for Thr
UAA, UAG- Normally stop but can code for Gln
UGA- Normally stop but can code for cys
tRNA hypothesized by who
- In 1955 Crick hypothesized the existence of an adaptor molecule that can recognize codons on the mRNA and couple that with amino acids
Describe the componets that make up the structure of tRNA
- Cloverleaf
- 70-90 nucleotides long (smaller in mitochondria and chloroplasts)
- Free 3’ and 5’ ends
- @3’ end ACC (added during processing)
- Anticodon is at the center of the middle loop: codon-anticodon base pairing
- Post-transcriptional: modification of nucleotides
- When tRNA has an amino acid, it is called aminoacylated (at the 3’end)