Molecular Biology Flashcards
Does insulin require PTMs
No
A person’s genotype can be determined by
PCR-RFLP, fluorescence based methods, sequencing methods
What system is insulin best produced in
Bacteria
Does EPO require PTMs
Yes, glycosylation
What system is EPO best produced in
Eukaryotic system (mammalian) : Chinese hamster ovary cells
Does antithrombin require PTMs
Yes (carboxylation)
What system is antithrombin best produced in and why
Transgenic animal (goats, pharming). Carboxylation is tricky so won’t occur in a cell culture
What is the central dogma of molecular biology
DNA -> mRNA -> protein
What is the basic structure of all genes
Promoter region and transcribed region
What is a gene
Region of DNA which makes one mRNA molecule
What is different about prokaryotic genes
No introns, prokaryotes don’t have the ability to splice. No nucleus, transcribe and translate DNA simultaneously
What is added to mRNA to prevent degradation in eukaryotic cells
5’G cap and 3’ poly-A tail
What is present in the promoter region of a gene
Transcription factor binding sites and RNA polymerase binding site
What are transcription factors
Proteins that bind DNA and control promoter binding of RNA polymerase (can have more than one simultaneously)
What are the two types of transcription factors
Activators (turn on), repressors (turn off) by blocking RNA polymerase from binding
How do transcription factors work
Use physical connections to turn genes on/off
Why is transcriptional control important
So that cells can have different genes turned on for their different functions
Which transcription factors are present differs:
Between cells and over time
What are ribosomes made of
rRNA and protein: work like enzymes to catalyse protein synthesis (but aren’t actually enzymes)
What is meant by the universal genetic code
Codons code for the same amino acids in all organisms
What are the three stages of translation
Initiation, elongation, termination
What happens in initiation of translation
Ribosome, mRNA and first tRNA come together to form translation initiation complex