molecular biology Flashcards
what is the central dogma
- DNA makes RNA makes protein
- DNA makes RNA through transcription
- RNA makes protein through translation
what is molecular biology
the study of biological molecules, their reactions and interactions
what is a genome
total genetic content of a cell/organism
- the complete DNA sequence of a cell/organism
what is a transcriptome
all mRNA molecules currently present in a cell/organism
what is a proteome
total set of proteins currently present in a cell/organism
how are genomes studied
by transcriptomic and proteomic profiling
how do genomes vary
largely the same between cell types within an individual
how will transcriptomes vary
will vary between cells, and with environmental conditions
what can be used for the study of mRNA abundance
- RNA sequencing
- DNA micro assays
what can be used for the study of protein abundance
traditionally Ab based: ELISA assays
- needs antibodies and lacks highly parallel methods and universal external standard
- mass spectrometry
how will proteomes vary
will vary between types of cells and with environmental condition
what is important in proteomes
post translational modifications
- proteolytic cleavage
- covalent modification
what is mass spectrometry
method to accurately measure mass of proteins and protein fragments
what does mass spectrometry require
proteins/peptides are ionised to allow detection
what are the advantages of mass spectrometry
-high sensitivity, accuracy and resolution
what is the role of a mass spectrometer
generates gas phase ions from a sample, separates them according to their mass to charge ratio and generates a record of their abundance, allowing:
- MW determination
- amino acid sequencing
- PTM detection
- relative quantification
- structural analysis
what are some of the considerations of omic studies
- generate very large amounts of data
- can take a lot of time and money
- picking conditions in transcriptomics and proteomics may be critical
- risk of errors
- amount of data often exceeds amount of understanding
what is DNA sequencing used for
- nucleic acid sequencing can be used in diagnostics
- sequencing of genes amplified by PCR allows identification
give examples of next generation sequencing
- Illumina, SOLiD
Give an example of nanopore sequencing
minION
outline the drug discovery process
- target identification
- determine DNA and protein sequence
- elucidate structure and function of the target
- proof of concept and assay development
- assay for high throughput molecular screen
- high throughput screening/ directed synthesis programme
- select lead structures