Topic 6-L2- Translation Flashcards
Proteins are _________. They are comprised of polymers of amino
acids connected by __________
polypeptides. peptide bonds.
Amino acids have an
amino group on one side, an ⍺–carbon in the middle (has “R group”) and a carboxyl group on the other side.
Peptide bonds are between the
carboxylic acid group of one amino
acid and the amino group of the next amino acid.
proteins are directional based on how
polymers are assembled
from N-terminus (free amino terminus) to C-terminus (free carboxylic acid terminus
There are 20 different amino acids that make up proteins. They have the
same backbone, but different R groups.
primary structure
The chain (sequence) of amino acids in a protein
secondary structure.
Small segments of protein adopt simple local structures (local in 3D space, not necessarily in sequence)
Most common secondary structure elements are
⍺-helices & β-sheets. Formed by hydrogen bonding in peptide backbone (amide H & carbonyl O)
Tertiary structure.
The full 3D structure of a protein
Will typically include multiple secondary structure elements arranged in different ways & other structural features as well
Quaternary structure is the result of
multiple different polypeptides
coming together – multimeric proteins (or protein complexes).
The individual polypeptide chains in a multimeric protein are
subunits. Can be:
- identical (homomeric)
- different (heteromeric)
Proteins contain “domains” - these are
structural and/or functional
segments. Can be small or large - most proteins contain a few (or more)
different domains
A given domain is defined as having a particular
structure and/or carrying out a particular function. Typically, a given domain will be found in a number of different proteins.
Common domain example
“helix-turn-helix” (HTH) domains
HTH domains bind DNA – found in
> 200 different proteins in any given Salmonella genome…mostly DNA-binding regulatory binding proteins.
The ribosome uses tRNAs to
convert (“translate”) the mRNA sequence into a protein sequence
Each tRNA has a specific
anticodon that binds a particular three base codon.
At other end, tRNAs carry the specific
amino acid (cognate amino acid) that corresponds to that codon.
tRNA synthetases are the enzymes that
“charge” tRNAs – add the amino
acid to the CCA at the 3’ end.
“wobble” –
same tRNA for 2 different codons
start codons – mostly
AUG, GUG, UUG.
In E. coli:
83% AUG, 14% GUG, 3% UUG.
In bacteria, start codon is translated to
N-formylmethionine (fMet)
(chemically modified version of methionine) using a special tRNA.