Genes and How They Work
Section 15.1
What is the central dogma? What is the significance of the central dogma?
What is transcription? What is translation?
What are the different types of RNA and what do they do? (p. 307)
Section 15.2
How do you interpret the genetic code? Be sure you can give the complementary sequence of mRNA given the DNA, and also the corresponding polypeptide that will be produced.
What is always the first amino acid in the genetic code
Explain what it means that the genetic code is degenerate.
What does it mean that the genetic code is “universal” (or almost)?
Section 15.3
What are the stages of prokaryotic transcription? Explain each stage: what allows for initiation, elongation and termination?
What does the RNA polymerase do?
What is the promoter?
Section 15.4
What are the stages of eukaryotic transcription? Explain each stage: what allows for initiation, elongation and termination?
What is the TATA box?
After transcription, mRNA is processed by adding a 5’cap, a 3’polyA tail and is spliced. Explain each of those modifications
Section 15.5
What is splicing? How does splicing occur? How are introns and exons related to splicing? What is alternative splicing and what does it do for the cell?
Section 15.6
What is the structure of tRNA and how does it contribute to the process of translation? Where are the acceptor stem and anticodon loop?
What is an anti-codon and how does it relate to a codon?
What is the name of the enzyme that attaches the amino acid to the tRNA?
What is the structure of the ribosome? What occurs in the A,P and E sites?
Section 15.7
What are the stages of translation? Explain each stage: what allows for initiation, elongation and termination?
Section 15.8
Explain how mutations can affect protein structure.
What are the different types of mutations (point mutation (SNV), base substitution mutation, missense, silent, nonsense mutation, frameshift mutation)
What are chromosomal mutations? Explain deletions, duplications, inversions and translocations
