gene expression 1.3

Question 1

what is an amino acid?

Answer 1

one of twenty different types of organic compound which are the basic building blocks of protein

Question 2

what is an antibody?

Answer 2

type of protein made by white blood cells to defend the body against antigens

Question 3

what is chromatography?

Answer 3

technique used to separate components of a mixture which differ in their degree of solubility in a solvent

Question 4

what is an enzyme?

Answer 4

type of protein possessing an active surface which combines with a specific substrate

Question 5

what is gel electrophoresis?

Answer 5

technique used to separate electrically charged molecules by subjecting them to an electric current which forces them to move through a sheet of gel

Question 6

what is a genotype?

Answer 6

genetic constitution of a cell or organism produced as a result of gene expression

Question 7

what is a hormone?

Answer 7

type of protein that acts as a chemical messenger

Question 8

what is a hydrogen bond?

Answer 8

weak chemical link holding a polypeptide chain in a coil

Question 9

what is nitrogen?

Answer 9

chemical element present in all proteins in addition to carbon, hydrogen and oxygen

Question 10

what is a peptide bond?

Answer 10

a strong chemical link joining adjacent amino acids in a polypeptide chain

Question 11

what is a phenotype?

Answer 11

physical and chemical state of a cell or organism produced as a result of of gene expression

Question 12

what is a polypeptide?

Answer 12

chain-like molecule composed of several amino acids

Question 13

what is a protein?

Answer 13

molecule composed of one or more polypeptides folded or coiled into a specific shape

Question 14

what is an anticodon?

Answer 14

triplet of bases on a tRNA which is complementary to a mRNA codon

Question 15

what is an attachment site?

Answer 15

region of a tRNA molecule to which a specific amino acid becomes temporarily fixed

Question 16

what is a codon?

Answer 16

unit of genetic information consisting of three mRNA bases

Question 17

what is an exon?

Answer 17

the coding region of a gene

Question 18

what is genetic code?

Answer 18

molecular language made up of 64 codewords (4 bases ‘read’ in groups of 3 or 4^3)

Question 19

what is an intron?

Answer 19

the non-coding region of a gene

Question 20

what is mRNA?

Answer 20

type of nucleic acid which carries a copy of the DNA code from the nucleus to a ribosome

Question 21

what is the primary transcript?

Answer 21

mRNA strand formed as the complement of a DNA template strand

Question 22

what is ribose sugar?

Answer 22

type of sugar present in RNA

Question 23

what is RNA polymerase?

Answer 23

the enzyme which controls transcription

Question 24

what is a ribosome?

Answer 24

subcellular structure made of rRNA and protein which is the site of protein synthesis

Question 25

what is splicing?

Answer 25

the joining of exons from a primary transcript of RNA following the removal of introns

Question 26

what is transcription?

Answer 26

process by which a complementary molecule of mRNA is made from a region of a DNA template

Question 27

what is translation?

Answer 27

conversions of the genetic information on mRNA into a sequence of amino acids in a polypeptide

Question 28

what is tRNA?

Answer 28

type of nucleic acid which carries a specific amino acid to a ribosome

Question 29

what is uracil?

Answer 29

base present in RNA that is complementary to adenine (replaces thymine)

Question 30

mRNA

Answer 30

messenger RNA

Question 31

tRNA

Answer 31

transfer RNA

Question 32

rRNA

Answer 32

ribosomal RNA