PCB3063C Module 1 Review

What is a gene?

A section of DNA in a genome that codes for a protein

What is a protein?

A large molecule made up of amino acids that folds up to have a function

What do proteins do? (4 things)

1. Catalyze reactions

2. Give our body structure

3. Regulate how things move in a cell

4. Regulate when other genes turn on or off

What parts of the gene determines when/where the gene is made into a protein?

1. Promoter

2. Silencer and enhancers

3. Untranslated regions

4. Introns (sometimes)

What parts of the gene determines what the protein looks like?

Exons

What is transcription?

When RNA polymerase reads the information in a gene and converts it to mRNA

(DNA => mRNA)

What is translation?

When ribosomes read the information in mRNA and converts it into protein

(mRNA => protein)

What is a promoter?

Part of the gene that binds to RNA polymerase telling it to start transcription

What is an enhancers and silencers

Small stretches of DNA that bind to proteins called transcription factors

What is an intron?

Stretches of DNA that occur between exons that determine when/where the gene is expressed

Transcribed but NOT translated

T or F: Introns are translated

False! Introns are transcribed but not translated

What are exons?

The parts of the gene that code for proteins

Transcribed AND translated

T or F: Exons are only transcribed

False! Exons are transcribed AND translated

What is a start codon?

Where translation starts

Always ATG (in DNA) or AUG (in RNA)

What are the start codons in DNA?

ATG

What are the start codons in RNA?

AUG

What is a stop codon?

Where translation stops

Always TAA, TAG, or TGA (in DNA) or UAA, UAG, or UGA (in RNA)

What are the stop codons in DNA?

TAA, TAG, TGA

What are the stop codons in RNA?

UAA, UAG, UGA

What is the open reading frame?

All of the DNA between the start and stop codons where translation occurs

What are alleles?

Different versions of the same gene

What is a genome?

All of the DNA (or genetic material) of an organism

What are nucleotides?

Compound molecules that make up DNA and RNA

What are the five different kinds of nucleotides?

A: adenine

T: thymine

G: guanine

C: cytosine

U: uracil

What is DNA?

A string of nucleotides that contain genetic information

What are the base pair rules?

Nucleotides always pair up with each other to form base pairs

A binds to T

G binds to C

What are chromosomes?

Long stretches of DNA wrapped up with proteins

T or F: Every cell in your body has the ENTIRE genome.

True! Your cells have the entire genome in them. The only thing that makes them different is what genes are turned on/off

What are histones?

Proteins that DNA gets wrapped around

What are nucleosomes?

Protein complexes made of 8 histone proteins

What is chromatin?

The combination of DNA and nucleosomes

T or F: Individuals of the same species have (more/less) the same size of genome

True! Most individuals within a species are usually genetically similar

What is homology?

When species have similar characteristics because they inherited those characteristics from a common ancestor

What does it mean to be conserved?

The sequence of a specific gene and the protein it makes are similar across different species

What is "junk DNA"?

DNA sequence that is highly repetitive (ex: ATATATATATATATA)

What is ploidy?

How many copies you have of each chromosome

What does it mean to be diploid?

Two copies of each chromosome

What does it mean to be haploid?

One copy of each chromosome

What are sister chromatids?

Identical chromosomes joined at the centromere

What are homologous chromosomes?

Two copies of a pair of chromosomes

(4 chromosomes total!)

What is DNA sequencing?

A method that lets you find out the sequence of all the nucleotides in a genome

What is CRISPR-Cas9?

A method that allows us to edit the genome of an embryo

Which direction should DNA/RNA sequences be written in?

5' -> 3'