Genetics and Molecular Biology - The Central Dogma

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from genetics and molecular biology lecture notes, focusing on the central dogma, transcription, and translation.

Gene expression

The process by which information contained in genes is decoded to produce other molecules that determine the phenotypic traits of organisms.

Transcription

Synthesis of RNA complementary to one strand of a DNA segment.

Processing

In the nucleus of eukaryotic cells, the RNA usually undergoes chemical modification

Translation

The processed RNA molecule is used to specify the order in which amino acids are joined together to form a polypeptide chain.

Promoter

Nucleotide sequence, 20–200 bp long, that is the initial binding site of RNA polymerase and transcription initiation factors.

Promoter

The DNA sequence in a gene to which RNA polymerase binds to initiate transcription.

Upstream

Terms describing directions or positions with respect to a gene. Signifies the direction opposite to that traveled by RNA polymerase as it transcribes the gene.

Downstream

Terms describing directions or positions with respect to a gene. The direction in which RNA polymerase moves during transcription

TATA box

Located between 25-30 bp before transcriptional start site and essential for transcription initiation in humans.

TATA binding protein (TBP)

Binds to TATA box in mammals

Termination of transcription

Hairpins are formed due to inverted repeats in the mRNA sequence.

RNA processing

Events that occur in eukaryotic cells to change a primary transcript synthesized by RNA polymerase into a mature mRNA.

Spliceosomes

Nuclear particles where RNA splicing occurs.

Alternative splicing

Process that significantly increases protein diversity without requiring an increase in genome size.

Transfer RNAs (tRNAs)

Short single-stranded RNAs of 74 – 95 nt that carry specific amino acids and match with mRNA code for assembly

Transfer RNAs (tRNAs)

Each tRNA has an anticodon that is complementary to an mRNA codon

Colinearity

The linear order of nucleotides in a gene determines the linear order of amino acids in a polypeptide.