Unit 2, Module 1 Glossary

Question 0

Polypeptide

Answer 0

A polymer consisting of a chain of amino acid residues joined by peptide bonds.

Question 1

Gene

Answer 1

A length of DNA that codes for one (or more) polypeptides.

Question 2

Genome

Answer 2

The entire DNA sequence of that organism. The human genome consists of about 3 billion nucleotide base pairs.

Question 3

Protein

Answer 3

A large polypeptide - usually 100 or more amino acids. Some proteins consist of one polypeptide chain and some consists of more that one polypeptide chain.

Question 4

Transcription

Answer 4

The creation of a single-stranded mRNA copy of the DNA coding strand.

Question 5

Translation

Answer 5

The assembly of polypeptides at ribosomes.

Question 6

Codons

Answer 6

Triplets of nucleotide bases.

Question 7

Anticodon

Answer 7

Triplet of unpaired nucleotide bases on tRNA. Each anticodon can bind temporarily with its complementary codon.

Question 8

Mutation

Answer 8

A change in the amount of, or arrangement of, the genetic material of a cell.

Question 9

Chromosome mutations

Answer 9

Involve changes to parts of or whole chromosomes.

Question 10

DNA mutations

Answer 10

Changes to genes due to changes in the nucleotide base sequences.

Question 11

Point mutation

Answer 11

A DNA mutation in which one base pair replaces another. Also known as substitutions.

Question 12

Substitutions

Answer 12

A DNA mutation in which one base pair replaces another. These are also called point mutations.

Question 13

Insertion/deletion mutations

Answer 13

DNA mutation in which one or more nucleotide pairs are inserted or deleted from a length of DNA.

Question 14

Allele

Answer 14

An alternative version of a gene. It is still at the same locus on the chromosome and codes for the same polypeptide but the alteration to the DNA base sequence may alter the protein’s structure.