DNA Replication

Nucleotide

An organic molecule that acts as the building blocks for DNA and RNA

Complimentary bases

Nitrogenous bases in DNA and RNA that pair specifically with each other through hydrogen bonds

Pentose Sugar

a five-carbon sugar molecule found in nucleic acids

G phases

growth phases of the cell cycle

S phase

DNA replication

Complimentary base paring

A-T

G-C

5' to 3'

Chemical direction in which DNA is copied

Parental strand

original strand of DNA

Leading strand

the new complementary DNA strand synthesized continuously along the template strand toward the replication fork in the mandatory 5' to 3' direction

Lagging strand

The strand in replication that is copied 3' to 5' as Okazaki fragments and then joined up

DNA helicase

An enzyme that unwinds the DNA double helix (unzips DNA)

DNA polymerase

Joins individual nucleotides to produce a DNA molecule

DNA ligase

enzyme that chemically links DNA fragments together

Okazaki fragments

Small fragments of DNA produced on the lagging strand

Transcription

Process of converting a segment of DNA into a mRNA molecule

RNA polymerase

enzyme that synthesizes RNA from DNA template

mRNA

messenger RNA; copies DNA

rRNA

maker RNA; combines with proteins to form ribosomes

tRNA

transfer RNA; brings amino acids to ribosomes.

Translation

mRNA is decoded and a protein is produced

Amino acids

organic compounds that serve as the building blocks of proteins

Start codon

AUG

Stop codons

UAA, UAG, UGA

rRNA subunits

30s + 50s = 70s

P site

holds the tRNA carrying the growing polypeptide chain

A site

collects amino acids and creates peptide chains

Polypeptide chain

long chain of amino acids linked by peptide bonds

Anticodons

opposite codons