MGD Flashcards
Explain allosteric regulation of enzymes
The binding of a substance to a point other than the active site to stimulate or depress the activity of the enzyme
What substances increase and decrease PFK activity?
Increase - AMP
Decrease - Citrate and ATP
Generally, explain the action of kinase and phosphorylase enzymes
Kinase enzymes add phosphate to make a chemical more reactive whereas phosphorylase enzymes take off a phosphate
What are endogenous inhibitors?
These are substances produced by the body to competitively inhibit an enzyme to regulate its activity
What are the three stages of transcription?
Initiation - TATA box is found at -30
Elongation - reading the DNA from 5’ to 3’ and making the sequence from 3’ to 5’
Termination - creation of a 5’ cap and a polyA tail at 3’ end
What is the coding and template strand of DNA?
Terminology used in transcription process
Coding - has the same code as the mRNA created
Template - has the opposite bases to the mRNA because of base pairing
Give the substrate for translation
Amino acids
Give the substrate for transcription
Deoxynucleotide triphosphates (dNTPs)
Give the enzyme for transcription
RNA polymerase
Give the enzyme for translation
Ribosomes
Give the function of tRNA
Has an anticodon to the mRNA bases and is bound to the specific amino acid that the mRNA codon codes for
What enzyme binds tRNA to an amino acid?
tRNA synthetase
What amino acid is always found at the start of a protein sequence?
Methionine
Give the function of peptidyl transferase
In translation, this enzyme elongates the peptide sequence by bringing the next tRNA to the mRNA codon
What is euchromatin?
The genetic material within the nucleus that can be accessed and expressed. Stains a light colour
What is heterochromatin?
The densely packed genetic material that cannot be expressed
Explain the basis of the ‘beads on a string’ formation
The negatively charged sugar phosphate backbone is coiled round a series of positively charged histone proteins
What is a solenoid fibre?
The coiling of the ‘beads on a string’ into one continuous, 70nm fibre
What base does adenine bind to?
Thymine - “a tea for two” meaning by two hydrogen bonds
Cytosine and guanine bind by three hydrogen bonds
Give the purine and pyramidine bases
Purine - adenine and guanine “pure silver”
Pyramidine - cytosine and thymine
What creates the polarity of the sugar phosphate backbone?
Phosphate at the 5’ end and hydroxyl at the 3’ end
Outline the PCR process
Existing DNA heated to 95°C to break hydrogen bonds
DNA primers added to line up to exposed strands
Cooled again to allow primers to bind
Taq polymerase then elongates the primer to create a new DNA strand
What is blotting?
Electrophoresis + fluorescent probe to highlight the divisions created by the electrophoresis process. Southern blotting for DNA, Northern for RNA and Western for proteins
What is protein gel electrophoresis?
Filtering of proteins based on size, shape and charge. Proteins applied to a porous gel and a charge is set up. Proteins migrate toward their opposite charge but the gel restricts movement of the large proteins
What is SDS-PAGE?
Extension of the protein electrophoresis process except addition of a solution breaks all disulphides bridges and makes all proteins negatively charged so filtering is based only on size