how genes work

what is the central dogma

molecular biology that summarizes the flow of information in cells

what are structural genes

genes that are stretched of dna that code for proteins

what is transcription

the process of using dna template to make a complementary rna

what is translation

the process of using information in mRNA to synthesize proteins

how does the genetic code work

specifies how a sequence of nucleotides for a sequence of amino acids

what is a codon

a group three bases that specifies a particular amino acid

what does a one stop codon do

codes for methionine and signals where protein synthesis starts

what does a three stop codon do

signal the end of the protein-coding sequence

what is redundant in the genetic code

all but two amino acids are encoded by more than one codon

what is umambiguous in the genetic code

one codon never codes for more than one amino acid

what is non-overlapping in the genetic code

codons are read one at a time

what is conservative in the genetic code

if several codons specify the same amino acids, the first two bases are usually identical

what a point mutation

one or smaller of base changes

what is messense mutations

change an amino acid in the protein

what is a silent mutation

do not change the amino acid sequence due to redundacy in the code

what is a nonsense mutation

change a codon that specifies an amino acid

what is a frameshift mutation

shift the reading frame altering the meaning of all subsequent codons

what does a deleterious mutation do

decrease fitness

what an inversion chromosome

a segment of a chromosome breaks off

what is a translocation chromosome

a section of a chromosome breaks off and becomes attached to another chromosome

how can chromosome mutations be seen

on a karyotype