Molecular Biology Protein Synthesis

Question 1

Proteins are made of a long chain of specific sequence of ….

Answer 1

amino acids

Question 2

What are the 2 major steps in protein synthesis

Answer 2

1) transcription: splitting DNA and making a copy of mRNA
2) translation: proteins are made by tRNA bringing amino acids as described by mRNA

Question 3

What is the role of DNA in protein synthesis?

Answer 3

the sequence of n-bases of DNA determines which protein will be made
DNA does not leave the nucleus during protein synthesis (too large to leave nuclear pores)

Question 4

Transcription

Answer 4

1) begins once the double-stranded DNA in nucleus unwinds by RNA polymerase
2) only one strand of DNA double helix will be “read” or transcribed, called the antisense strand
3) RNA polymerase adds appropriate mRNA nucleotide to create a single-stranded mRNA strand (WITH URACIL)
4) occurs in the 5’-3’ direction on the mRNA strand
5) when a stop signal or terminator sequence is reached transcription stops

Question 5

From Gene To Protein: Translation Codon Table Characteristics

Answer 5

codon: three bases (nucleotides) that code for one amino acid on mRNA
1) redundancy: several codons for each amino acid (20 AA) (AUG, UAA, UGA, UAG)
2) continuous: no punctuation/spaces in code, insertion/deletion results in mutations
3) universal: AA and proteins are the same for all organisms, you can eat AA from other things and use it to