Transcription, Translation, and Protein Processing

Flashcards covering key vocabulary terms from a lecture on Transcription, Translation, and Protein Processing.

RNA Polymerase

A complex enzyme that carries out transcription by making RNA copies (transcripts) of a DNA template strand.

Sigma Factor

Helps the core enzyme detect the promoter, which signals the beginning of the gene; required for the initiation phase of transcription.

Promoter

A sequence of DNA to which proteins bind that initiate transcription of a single RNA from the DNA downstream of it.

Transcription

The process of reading a DNA template to make an RNA copy.

Translation

The process of decoding the RNA to assemble a protein.

Codon

Triplets of nucleotides that represent individual words, or amino acids, in an mRNA molecule.

tRNA

Decoder molecules that convert the language of RNA into that of proteins.

Ribosome

The molecular machine that reads the language of mRNA and converts, or translates, it into protein via the genetic code.

Chaperones

Proteins that assist in the folding of other proteins.

Degrons

Degradation signals contained in many normal proteins.

ExPortal

An anionic phospholipid microdomain located near the cell septum and appears linked to peptidoglycan synthesis in many streptococci, where secretion systems cluster at the cell membrane.

Polysomes

RNA molecule with many ribosomes moving along its length at the same time.