protein synthesis Flashcards
What are amino acids?
They are the monomers (building blocks) of proteins.
What is a base triplet?
Three nitrogenous bases on a DNA strand that code for a specific amino acid.
What is a codon?
sequence of three nitrogenous bases on mRNA that is complementary to a base triplet on DNA.
What is an anti-codon?
A sequence of three nitrogenous bases on tRNA that is complementary to the codon on mRNA.
What is protein synthesis?
The process of making proteins by linking amino acids in a specific sequence.
What are the two stages of protein synthesis?
Transcription – mRNA is made from DNA in the nucleus.
Translation – mRNA is used to assemble a protein in the cytoplasm.
What happens during transcription?
DNA unwinds, and hydrogen bonds break.
One DNA strand acts as a template.
mRNA is formed using free RNA nucleotides.
mRNA carries the genetic code out of the nucleus.
What happens during translation?
mRNA attaches to a ribosome.
tRNA brings amino acids to the ribosome.
Each tRNA has an anti-codon that matches an mRNA codon.
Amino acids link via peptide bonds to form a protein.
What is a peptide bond?
A chemical bond that links amino acids together in a protein.
What is a mutation?
A change in the nitrogenous base sequence of DNA, which can alter protein structure.
How does a mutation affect protein synthesis?
Changes the mRNA codon sequence.
Different amino acids may be inserted.
A different protein may be formed.
If the same amino acid is coded for, the protein remains unchanged.
