Transcription and RNA Modification

Flashcards covering elongation, termination, and post-transcriptional modification of RNA.

FACT

A special protein complex that moves histones out of the way during transcription.

Rho (ρ) factor

A protein factor involved in one class of termination signals in prokaryotes.

Rho-dependent termination

Termination that relies on a protein factor called rho(p).

Rho-independent termination

Termination that does not rely on the rho(p) factor.

Rho

An ATP-dependent RNA-stimulated helicase which binds to signals, disrupting the nascent RNA-DNA complex and releasing nascent RNA.

Inverted repeat or hyphenated.

A sequence in the template strand of the DNA molecule, 40bp in length, that signals rho-dependent termination.

Rho independent

Terminators with a palindromic G-C rich region followed by an A-T rich region.

Post-transcriptional modification

Alterations that occur to the primary transcript of functional mRNA.

Post-transcriptional modification

The modification of RNA transcript involving the addition of a 5’ 7 methyl guanosine triphosphate cap, a 3’ poly-A tail and splicing.

Introns

Non-coding sequences present within a gene that are removed during RNA splicing.

Exons

Protein-coding DNA sequences with codons essential for protein synthesis.

Spliceosome

A large and complex molecule of RNAs and proteins that regulate RNA splicing.

Spliceosome

Small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) formed from the combination of RNAs with proteins.

Secondary RNA structure

Folding of RNA into 3-D shape and forming base pair between nucleotides.