Cell Differentiation and Gene Regulation (Chapter 3)

Flashcards covering key concepts from the lecture on cell differentiation, central dogma, epigenetic modifications, gene regulation, transcription, alternative splicing, and developmental gradients.

DNA is into RNA, which is then translated into a functional protein.

transcribed

During RNA processing, are spliced out to make a fully functional mRNA.

introns

The process by which mRNA is read by a ribosome and converted into a protein is called .

translation

Proteins are the components that carry out some sort of within the cell.

activity

When a cell differentiates, the stays the same and is not irreversibly changed.

DNA

The cloning of demonstrated that specialized cells retain the full complement of DNA to create an entire organism.

Dolly the sheep

Cell specification and gene usage are modulated through to the DNA.

access

Genes not required for specialized tissue are prevented access from transcription machinery, often through modification.

epigenetic

A is a bundle of DNA made up of histone proteins.

nucleosome

Adding a methyl group to a gene, particularly to GCs, is called and acts as a roadblock for transcription machinery.

methylation

is a modification to histones that allows them to move out of the way, granting access to a gene needing to be expressed.

Acetylation

A large bundle of nucleosomes together forms .

chromatin

Epigenetic modifications like acetylation or methylation occur on conserved amino acids on histone tails.

lysine

The region upstream of a gene where RNA polymerase binds to start transcription is called the region.

promoter

Regions within a gene that encode for protein are called .

exons

Regions within a gene that break up exons and do not code for protein are called .

introns

A mature mRNA has a at one end and a at the other, after introns are spliced out.

5' cap, poly A tail

Proteins that carry out the process of reading DNA and turning it into mRNA are known as factors.

transcription

An is a region upstream of the promoter that is required for the activation of a gene.

enhancer

The complex is a protein complex that binds to enhancers and transcription factors, recruiting RNA polymerase to set up transcription.

mediator

(NELF) is a repressive transcription factor that can pause or stop transcription from occurring.

Negative Elongation Factor

To ensure a gene is transcribed only in the tissue it needs to be, different tissues have different regions.

enhancer

are regulatory regions where repressor proteins bind to prevent the transcription of a specific gene.

Silencers

The enzyme recognizes methylated cytosines and recruits histone deacetylase and histone methyltransferase to alter histone modifications, preventing gene expression.

MECP2

methyltransferases add methyl groups to cytosines in CG pairings, with de novo and perpetuating types.

DNA

The perpetuating methyltransferase, , looks for preexisting methyl groups on the parent DNA strand and adds them to the daughter strand during replication.

DMT1

imprinting is when a gene you inherit from either your mother or your father is turned on or off based on parental origin.

Genomic

The process by which one gene can produce multiple different protein products is called splicing.

alternative

The dSCAM gene in Drosophila is an extreme example, capable of producing up to different types of proteins through alternative splicing.

38,016

Improper splicing can lead to a protein and changes in the organism's phenotype, such as hypertrophy.

truncated

The amount of time a mRNA or protein is present can play a role in development, a concept known as control.

temporal

In the Drosophila egg, gradients of mRNA and proteins dictate the and axis.

anterior, posterior

Nanos mRNA diffuses in the Drosophila egg and is captured at the posterior end by the anchor protein , where it is translated into a protein.

OSCR

The steepness of a protein gradient, such as that of heat shock protein, can be affected by complexes in the cytoplasm that degrade unbound mRNA.

diadenylase

transport on the cytoskeleton, using motor proteins like dynein and kinesin, actively relocates mRNAs to specific ends of the developing egg.

Active