Molecular Basis of Inheritance & The Central Dogma

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts related to the molecular basis of inheritance and the central dogma, including DNA structure, replication, transcription, and translation.

DNA

A structure with novel features that are of considerable biological interest, consisting of bases, sugars, and phosphates in a double helix.

Rosalind Franklin

Used X-ray crystallography of DNA crystals to discover that DNA takes 2 forms, the Sugar Phosphate backbone is on the outside, and the molecule looks the same upside down.

Chargaff’s rules

States that A binds to T and G binds to C in DNA structure.

DNA Replication

The process of doubling DNA material in a semi-conservative and rapid manner, facilitated by DNA polymerase.

DNA polymerase

An enzyme that adds nucleotides to a growing DNA strand, working in the 5’ to 3’ direction, and can also proofread (repair) the DNA.

DNA Self-Repair

The process by which DNA polymerase proofreads and repairs mistakes in the DNA sequence, which can lead to mutations if not corrected.

DNA Information Storage

DNA encodes information using nucleotide sequences (ATGC), where organisms differ due to different DNA sequences and complementarity (AT & GC) allows copying and repair.

Chromosome

A structure where DNA is packaged as a coil of coiled coils.

Transcription

The process of converting T to U in mRNA to send messages to ribosomes.

Translation

The process of creating proteins from chains of amino acids, initiated by a start codon and terminated by a stop codon.

Codon

Triplet nucleotides that encode for amino acids. 61 encode amino acids and 3 are stop codons. Methionine (M) is the start codon and are universal.

Reading mRNA

Process of reading from 5’ to 3’ in a continuous manner, where the first codon establishes the start.

Amino Acids

Building blocks of proteins, where the R group determines the property (Nonpolar, Polar, Positively Charged, Negatively Charged).

Bacillus thuringiensis

A soil microbe used in genetically modified cotton (BT Cotton) for pest control, specifically its Cry gene which acts as a defence mechanism by expressing a toxin.

Types of RNA

Ribosomal RNA (rRNA), Messenger RNA (mRNA), Transfer RNA (tRNA).