Genomes Midterm Study

nucleotide-pair substitution

replaces one nucleotide and its partner with another pair of nucleotides

Silent mutations

have no effect on the amino acid encoded by a codon because of redundancy in the genetic code

Missense mutations

code for an amino acid, but not the correct amino acid

Nonsense mutations

change an amino acid codon into a stop codon, nearly always leading to a nonfunctional protein

central dogma

DNA→RNA→protein

Insertions and deletions

additions or losses of nucleotide pairs in a gene

what is a gene?

A DNA sequence that codes for a specific polypeptide chain

transcription

DNA→RNA

translation

RNA→protein

genetic code

instructions for assembling amino acids into polypeptides

ribosomes

made of rRNA and makes proteins

what does tRNA do?

transfers amino acids to match the correct mRNA codon