Introduction to Life, DNA, and Gene Expression

Vocabulary terms and definitions covering the characteristics of life, DNA structure, and the process of gene expression based on the lecture transcript.

Properties of Life

A combination of characteristics shared by bacteria, archaea, protists, fungi, plants, and animals, including order, adaptation, response, reproduction, growth, and energy processing.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

A nucleic acid molecule that can be replicated, an ability that enables organisms to reproduce themselves.

Cells

The smallest units of life; all living organisms are made from these.

Metabolic activities

Processes through which organisms extract energy from various nutrients and transform it to do many kinds of work, allowing the organism to maintain life and grow.

Homeostasis

A relatively constant and self-correcting internal environment of a living organism.

Natural selection

A process where members of a population possessing beneficial genetic traits survive and reproduce better than members that lack these traits.

Adaptive trait

A beneficial genetic trait, such as a giraffe's long neck for reaching leaves or winning fights, that improves survival and reproduction.

Chromosome

A structure that contains genetic materials in the form of DNA.

Nucleotides

The chemical building blocks of DNA, abbreviated as A, T, C, and G, whose specific order holds the information on how to make proteins.

DNA Bases

The four types of bases in DNA: adenosine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine.

Replication, Transcription, and Translation

The sequence of processes that allows DNA to be copied and eventually result in the production of a protein.

Protein

A molecule that performs the functions of a living organism and determines its phenotype; it is made of linked amino acids folded into a three-dimensional shape.

Gene expression

The whole process of transcribing a gene's DNA into mRNA and then translating the mRNA into a functional protein.

Crystalline

A lens-specific protein in the eye that helps focus incoming light.

Messenger RNA (mRNA)

A single-stranded related molecule of DNA that uses the nucleotides A, U, C, and G to carry genetic information to the part of the cell where proteins are made.

Amino acids

The building blocks of proteins.

Genomic approach

The study of genes and their functions using high-throughput technology, DNA sequencing, and computational tools like biomechanic research.

Positive feedback

A common form of regulation in which the end products speed up their own production.