Vocab For Chapter 12 Flashcards
Transformation
Process by which one strain of bacteria is changed by a gene from another strain of bacteria
Bacteriophage
Bacteria eater
Virus that infects bacteria
Nucleotides
Make up DNA
Five carbon sugar, phosphate, nitrogen base
Base pairing
Principle that bonds in DNA can form only between adenine & thymine and between guanine and cytosine
Chromatin
Granular material visible within the nucleus
consists of DNA coiled tightly around proteins
Histone
Protein molecules around which DNA is tightly coiled in chromatin
Replication
Copying process by which a cell duplicates it’s DNA
DNA polymerase
Enzyme in DNA replication that joins individual nucleotides to produce a DNA molecule
Gene
Coded DNA instructions that control the production of proteins in a cell
Messenger RNA mRNA
RNA molecule that carries Copies of instructions for the assembly of amino acids into proteins From DNA to the rest of the cell
Ribosomal RNA rRNA
RNA that makes up the major part of ribosomes
Transfer RNA tRNA
RNA molecule that transfers amino acids to ribosomes during protein synthesis
Transcription
Process in which part of the nucleotide sequence of DNA is copied into a complementary sequence in RNA
RNA polymerase
Enzyme similar to DNA polymerase that binds to the DNA and separates the DNA strands during transcription
Promoters
Region of DNA that indicates to an enzyme where to bind to make RNA
Introns
Sequence of DNA that is not involved in coding for a protein
Exons
Expressed sequence of DNA
Codes for a protein
Codon
Three nucleotide sequence on messenger RNA that codes for a single amino acid
Translation
The decoding of an mRNA message into a polypeptide chain (Protein)
Anticodon
Three unpaired bases a tRNA has, they are complementary to 1 mRNA codon
Mutations
Changes in the genetic material
Point mutations
Mutation in only a small amount of nucleotides
Frameshift mutations
Shifts the “reading frame” by inserting/deleting
Polyploidy
When an organism has extra sets of chromosomes
Operon
Group of genes operating together
Operator
Region of chromosome in an operon to which the repressor binds when operon is “off”
Differentiation
Process in which cells become specialized in structure and function
Hox genes
Series of genes that controls the Differentiation of cells and tissues in an embryo
