Unit 3 Chapter 14: DNA and the Gene-Synthesis Repair Flashcards
What is was Fredrick Griffith’s experiment
- took 2 strains of pneumoccus bacteria (S strain and an R strain)
- injected the strains into mice
- S strain killed them causing pneumonia
- R strain did nothing
- Heat treated/dead S bacteria did nothing
- Mixture of Heat S and regular R killed the mice (analysis showed live S bacteria in the dead mice so something must have transformed from the dead S to the live R)
- led to the transforming principle
What is the transforming principle
bacteria are capable of transferring genetic information through a process known as transformation
Does DNA work in other organisms
yes, viruses too
What are bacteriophages
- viruses that infect bacteria cells
- most abundant thing ever
- host specific
- DNA is stored in the head, injected into bacteria through tail
- cell either replicates these viruses using the viral DNA that was injected releasing a ton of new ones (lytic) or DNA is replicated but so is the rest of the bacterial genome, it is stored and remains dormant until the conditions are right and viral replication is initiated which causes lysis of the cell (lysogenic)
What is the Hershey-Chase Experiment
- intention was to answer whether genes were protein or DNA
- used T2 Bacteriophage and e.coli
- knew that infections begin when T2 attaches to cell well and injects its own DNA into the bacteria which acts as a host for the virus
- after injection the viral capsid remains attached like an ghost
- T2 made up of protein and DNA, but which entered cell?
- important facts: protein contains S not P and DNA contains P not S
- grew T2 in the presence of radioactive P and S and allowed each set to infect e. coli
- if genes consist of DNA then protein should be found in the ghosts an DNA should be in the cell, but if they consist of protein only protein should be in the cells
- blended their samples to get rid of ghosts
- found that all protein was in ghosts and all DNA was in cells
- DNA was pronounced hereditary material
What is semi-conservative replication
the hypothesis that if the old DNA was separated each strand could be used as a template to create the daughter DNA so that the daughter would contain one old strand and one new one
What is conservative replication
the hypothesis that if the base strands temporarily faced outward so that complementary strands no longer faced inwards then they could serve as the template for an entirely new double helix (daughter DNA would have 2 completely new strands)
What is dispersive replication
the hypothesis that if the parent helix was cut into short sections before being unwound, copied and put back together then new and old segments would alternate in each strand
What was the Meselson and Stahl Experiment
- wanted to mark parental/daughter strands of DNA to figure out if replication was disp, cons, or semi-cons
- used e.coli
- grew cells in different isotopes of nitrogen, N15 first then N14 (15 is heavier)
- if different N-isotopes were available when DNA was made then parental and daughter strands would have different densities
- used density gradient centrifugation
- N14 should form bands higher in tube and N15 should form bands lower
Generation 1: grew cells only in N15, purified some of the DNA then put the rest in an area only containing N14; allowed DNA to copy once then isolated it, let rest of sample divide again then isolated that DNA
- if cons: daughter cells should have N14 or N15 strands not both (one high band and one low band)
- if cons or semi-cons; after one generation DNA should contain an equal mix of both 15 and 14, and one intermediate band should form
Generation 2:
- if semi cons: half should only contain N14 (2 bands)
- if disp: still only one band forms
Results: after gen 1- one band so not not cons
after gen 2- 2 bands so semi conservative
What is the role of DNA polymerase
- polymerizes deoxynucleotides to DNA
- catalyzes DNA synthesis
- 3 types
- 1 and 3 are used during replication
- 2 repairs damaged DNA
What direction does synthesis proceed in
5’ to 3’ because DNA polymerases can only work in one direction and deoxyribonucleotides can only be added to the 3’ end of the growing DNA
-bi directional though, occurs in both strands at same time
Are the polymerization reactions in replication endo or exergonic
exergonic, because monomers are dNTPs which have high pot.E due to their 3 phosphates
How does replication get started
- bubble forms in chromosome when DNA is being synthesized
- first forms at a specific sequence of bases: the origin of replication (multiple form in eukaryotes bc we have multiple origin sites)
- more bubbles grow as replication proceeds
- once bubble opens enzymes initiate replication
What is the replication fork
- structure at the corners of each replication bubble where initiation of replication takes place
- Y shaped region where parent DNA is split into 2 single strands which are then copied
What is a helicase
an enzyme that breaks the hydrogen bonds between deoxyribonucleotides which causes the 2 DNA strands to separate
What are SSBPs and what do they do
single strand binding proteins, they attach to the separated strands of DNA and prevent them from snapping back into a double helix
How is the helix opened and stabilized
with the help of helicase and SSBPs which make both strands available for copying