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Double helix nucleic acid, composed of deoxyribose, phosphate, and bases thymine, adenine, cytosine, guanine; transmits genetic information; located in nucleus and mitochondria.

DNA

Single helix nucleic acid, composed of ribose, phosphate, and bases uracil, adenine, cytosine, guanine; responsible for protein production; found in cytoplasm and ribosome.

RNA

Molecules that separate DNA or proteins according to size using gel media; DNA and RNA have negative charge.

ELECTROPHORESIS

Process used to amplify small amounts of DNA for experiments, forensics, or disease diagnosis; uses primers and Taq polymerase.

POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (PCR)

Enzymes that cut DNA at specific sequences, producing smaller fragments.

RESTRICTION DIGEST

Process of joining two pieces of DNA together, often to create recombinant DNA.

LIGATION

Technique to detect specific DNA sequences after electrophoresis using labeled probes.

BLOTTING

Scientist who developed the chain termination method of DNA sequencing using ddNTPs.

FREDERICK SANGER

DNA elements that can move within the genome, potentially causing mutations.

Transposons (“jumping genes”)

Identical antibodies produced from a hybridoma, used in diagnostics and therapeutics.

Monoclonal antibodies

Virus composed of only RNA or DNA, never both.

RNA virus or DNA virus

Treatment that introduces functional genes into patient cells; first used in a 4-year-old girl with SCID.

Gene therapy

First mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell in 1997.

Dolly the Sheep

Cells that can replicate and differentiate into multiple cell types; pluripotent cells can become any type.

Stem cells

Recombinant protein drug approved in 1982 for diabetes treatment, produced without using animal sources.

Insulin

Scientist who developed PCR in 1983.

Kary Mullis

DNA polymerase derived from Thermus aquaticus, used in PCR for its thermostability.

Taq polymerase

Technique to detect specific DNA sequences on a slide, allowing simultaneous testing of multiple genes; uses fluorescent labeling.

DNA microarray

Nitrogenous bases with two rings: adenine and guanine.

Purines

Nitrogenous bases with one ring: cytosine, thymine, uracil.

Pyrimidines

Experimental proof that DNA replication is semiconservative, using E. coli and isotopes of nitrogen.

Matthew Meselson & Franklin Stahl experiment

Technique where DNA fragments are amplified and detected in real time using fluorescent probes.

Quantitative PCR (qPCR)

Organism whose genome was fully sequenced first among eukaryotes; used in baking, brewing, and research.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast)

Project to sequence the entire human genome, completed in 2003.

Human Genome Project

Cells reprogrammed using Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc, Klf4 to become pluripotent.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)

Scientist who first directed the synthesis of a dinucleotide in the 1930s–1940s.

Alexander Todd

Scientist who pioneered phosphodiester oligonucleotide synthesis, aiding in synthetic DNA studies.

Har Gobind Khorana

Scientists who proved DNA is the carrier of genetic material using bacteriophages.

Alfred Hershey & Martha Chase

A virus that replicates inside bacteria and can act as a cloning vector.

Bacteriophage

Scientists who pioneered the double helix model of DNA in 1953.

James Watson & Francis Crick

Scientists who experimentally proved semiconservative DNA replication in E. coli using nitrogen isotopes.

Matthew Meselson & Franklin Stahl

Bacterial species most commonly used in molecular biology experiments due to rapid growth and ease of manipulation.

Escherichia coli (E. coli)

Molecule identified as the intermediary between DNA and protein, confirming the central dogma.

Messenger RNA (mRNA)

Scientists who demonstrated the first in vitro protein translation in 1961.

Marshall Nirenberg & Heinrich Matthaei

Scientists who developed phosphotriester oligonucleotide synthesis methods in the 1960s.

Robert Letsinger & Colin Reese

Scientist who published the first nucleic acid sequence (tRNA).

Robert Holley

Scientists who interpreted the genetic code and won the Nobel Prize in 1968.

R. Holley, H. Khorana & M. Nirenberg

Scientists whose publications inspired the discovery of PCR by describing DNA replication.

H. Khorana & Kjell Kleppe

Scientist who isolated DNA polymerase from Thermus aquaticus.

Thomas Brock

Restriction enzyme first derived from Haemophilus influenzae, used in cutting DNA at specific sequences.

HindII

Researchers who proposed recombinant DNA techniques in 1972–1973 and founded GeneTech.

Herbert Boyer & Stanley Cohen

Technique used to identify mRNA sequence rearrangements in adenovirus species in the 1970s.

Messenger RNA sequencing / rearrangement (Louise Chow et al.)

Scientists who discovered that gene sequences are composed of coding exons and noncoding introns.

Phillip Sharp, Susan Berget & Claire Moore

Scientist who pioneered DNA fingerprinting in 1989, using electrophoresis to detect DNA polymorphisms.

Alec Jeffreys

First recombinant protein drug approved in 1982 for diabetes.

Insulin

Genes that allow mature cells to be reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells.

Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc, Klf4

The “jumping genes” discovered by Barbara McClintock in the 1950s.

Transposons

Technique where DNA accumulation is measured as PCR progresses, providing real-time quantification.

Real-time PCR / qPCR

Project that created a map of historical human migration patterns using DNA samples worldwide.

Genographic Project (2005)

The complete genome sequencing of a nematode with 100 million base pairs and 20,000 genes in 1998.

Caenorhabditis elegans

Eukaryotic yeast species whose complete gene sequence was identified in 1996 with 12,000,000 base pairs.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae (“Brewer’s yeast”)

Fruit fly whose genome was fully sequenced in the 2000s.

Drosophila melanogaster

Plant species whose genome was completed alongside Drosophila in the 2000s.

Arabidopsis thaliana

Thermophilic bacterium from Yellowstone National Park used as a source of thermostable DNA polymerase.

Thermus aquaticus

Human cell with a severe deficiency in adenosine deaminase treated via gene therapy in 1990.

Ashanthi de Silva (SCID patient)

the only other SCID patient besides Ashanthi de Silva, sometimes called the “Bubble Boy.”

David Vetter

Bacterium used as the source of the restriction enzyme HindII.

Haemophilus influenzae

Virus whose first complete DNA sequence was published in 1984.

HIV

Organism used in the Meselson & Stahl experiment to prove semiconservative DNA replication.

Escherichia coli (E. coli)

Type of virus that replicates inside bacteria and can be used as a cloning vector.

Bacteriophage

Microorganism used for industrial and wastewater treatment, as well as baking and fermentation.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Species of nematode with 100,000,000 base pairs and 20,000 genes, whose genome was sequenced in 1998.

Caenorhabditis elegans

The thermophilic bacterium that produces Taq polymerase for PCR.

Thermus aquaticus

Bacterial species most commonly used in molecular biology experiments for rapid growth and manipulability.

Escherichia coli (E. coli)

The first gene therapy patient treated for SCID in 1990.

Ashanthi de Silva

Organism whose DNA was used to study alternative mRNA splicing involving exons and introns in the 1970s.

Adenovirus

Plant species used in genomic studies alongside Drosophila in the 2000s.

Arabidopsis thaliana

What type of gel is most commonly used in electrophoresis?

Agarose gel

RECITE SNOW DROP

3 pcr process

denaturing, annealing, extenstion

the study of living things at the level of the molecules which control them and make them up

molecular biology