Gene expression II: from RNA to protein Flashcards
what does RNA stand for?
Ribonucleic acid
what is RNA?
the product of transcription from a DNA template
how much more RNA in a cell than DNA?
10x more
what 3 general factors make DNA and RNA different?
- different chemical structure
- different physical structure
- different biological role
what’s different chemically about RNA to DNA? (2)
- ribose contains 2-OH, whereas deoxy contains 2-H (deOXY)
- the base uracil is used instead of thymine
how does the oxygenated ribose as opposed to deoxygenated DNA affect stability?
it’s less stable (RNA)
what’s the difference between thymine and uracil?
uracil doesn’t have a CH3 group that thymine does have
what are the biological roles of RNA?
- transfer of information from DNA to protein (mRNA)
- synthesis of proteins (rRNA and tRNA)
- processing of messenger RNA (snRNA)
- processing and modification of ribosomal RNA (snoRNA)
- catalytic RNA (self-splicing introns)
how much RNA does a single cell contain?
10pg/ 10^-11g
what proportion of RNA in cells is ribosomal?
80-85%
what proportion of RNA in cells is low molecular weight RNA e.g. snRNAs, tRNAs etc.?
10-15%
what proportion of RNA in cells is messenger?
1-5%
what are the physical properties of RNA?
- single stranded
- can base pair with itself to fold into complex structures which depends on its sequence
the regulation of the amount or useage of certain RNAs is important for their function, what is this regulation controlled by? (3)
- synthesis
- regulated degradation
- translation efficiency
when iron binds to transferrin what happens?
it’s transported into cells via a receptor
what is iron uptake regulated by?
degradation of transferrin receptor mRNA
what structures are found within the transferrin receptor mRNA?
AU rich loop
what does this Au rich loop act as?
binding site for IRE-BP (iron response element binding protein)
what 3 processes does mRNA go through to become mature?
capping
cleavage/polyadenylation
splicing
which end of RNA is modified by capping?
5’
what happens during capping?
the 5’ end of GTP molecule joins the 5’ end of the RNA and 1 phosphate is lost
methylation at the 2’ position of first 2 nucleotides and on the added G
what is the purpose of capping? (5)
- increases the stability of mRNA
- required for efficient splicing
- nuclear export (leaving the nucleus)
- translation initiation (translation can’t start without capping)
what does GTP stand for?
Guanosine TriPhosphate
how is RNA modified on the 3’ end?
3’ cleavage and polyadenylation
what signals cleavage/ polyadenylation? (2)
AAUAAA
G/U or just U rich sequence
what are the steps for 3’cleavage and polyadenylation?(3)
- cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor (CPSF) binds to AAUAAA
- cleavage stimulatory factor (CstF) binds to G/U- recruits cleaving factors and poly-A polymerase (PAP)
- cleavage and addition of polyA
what is PolyA tailing linked to?(2)
termination of transcription
stability and translation efficiency
what signals are required for pre-mRNA splicing?
conserved sequences at the
5’ splice site, 3’ splice site
and branchpoint region
does splicing happen in 1 or several stages?
several
what do splicing sites (5’ donor site and 3’ acceptor site) do?
tell apparatus where to cut the RNA
what does the branch point contain?
an A in the sequence
how many steps in the splicing mechanism?
2
what happens in the first step of the splicing mechanism?
cleavage at the 5’ splice site and lariat formation at branchpoint sequence- RNA is cut after exon 1 and the GU of the sequence joins to the A in the branch point (the free 2’ Hydroxyl of A joins to the phosphate of GU)
what happens in the second step of the splicing mechanism?
cleavage at 3’ splice site. Removal of intron region and exon ligation (join up)- the introns are cut out and exons are kept
what carries out splicing?
small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles (snRNPs/ snurps) and protein splicing factors
what makes snRNPs?
snRNA + small nuclear RNA
which snRNPs are involved in splicing?
U1, U2, U4, U5 and U6
which snRNPs form the spliceosome?
U2
U5
U6
What are the steps of the spliceosome assembly pathway? (5)
- exon 1 and intron boundry recognised by U1 and U2
- U4, U5 and U6 are recruited
- complex is called the spliceosome
- U4, U5 and U6 displace U1- still associated but is pushed away
- to join the 2 exons together, they must be brought close together and have intron RNA removed- which is done by U2,U5 and U6
what’s alternative splicing?
exon inclusion/inclusion to alter a protein sequence
give an example of alternative splicing use:
1 from:
- sex determination in fruit flies
- control of flowering time
- olfactory receptor diversity
what’s the purpose of alternative splicing?
to produce different proteins with different functions from a single gene
what’s the technical term for protein synthesis?
translation