Protein Synthesis
This enzyme is responsible for prying the DNA strands apart and joining together the RNA nucleotides complementary to the DNA template.
What is RNA Polymerase?
This "on-off switch" is a segment of DNA usually positioned after the promotor that controls the access of RNA polymerase to the genes.
What is the operator?
These bacterial enzymes protect the cell by cutting up foreign DNA at very specific sites.
What are restriction enzymes?
This is the total number of amino acids used to build proteins across the genetic code.
What is 20?
This operon is considered "inducible" because it is usually off but can be stimulated when a specific small molecule is present.
What is the lac operon?
This specific DNA sequence, often containing a "TATA box" in eukaryotes, is where RNA polymerase attaches and initiates transcription.
What is the promoter?
In this type of operon, such as the trp operon, transcription is usually "on" but can be inhibited when a specific small molecule binds allosterically to a regulatory protein.
What is a repressible operon?
This technique uses a gel as a molecular sieve to separate nucleic acids or proteins based on their size and electrical charge.
What is gel electrophoresis?
This type of point mutation results in a codon that still codes for the same amino acid, having no effect on the protein's function.
What is a silent point mutation?
In the lac operon, this sugar acts as the inducer by binding to the repressor and inactivating it.
What is allalactose?
These two modifications are added to the ends of a pre-mRNA molecule to facilitate export from the nucleus and protect it from degradation.
What are the 5'cap and 3'poly A tail?
This process involves the attachment of acetyl groups to histone tails, which opens up the chromatin structure and promotes transcription.
What is histone acetylation?
This three-step cycle (denaturation, annealing, and extension) can produce billions of copies of a specific target DNA segment in a matter of hours.
What is PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction)?
These types of mutations, involving the insertion or deletion of nucleotides, usually have the most disastrous effects because they alter the reading frame.
What are frameshift mutations?
An operon is a functional unit of DNA that includes a promoter, an operator, and this specific set of related genes that are all controlled together to perform a single task.
What are structural genes?
During translation, this specific triplet of bases on a tRNA molecule pairs with a complementary section on the mRNA.
What is the anti-codon?
Unlike prokaryotes, eukaryotes use this post-transcriptional process to produce different mRNA molecules from the same primary transcript
What is alternative RNA splicing?
This is the name for the small, circular DNA molecules in bacteria that are often used as vectors to carry foreign genes into a host cell.
What is a plasmid?
This type of mutation changes an amino acid codon into a "stop" codon, nearly always leading to a nonfunctional, truncated protein.
What is a nonsense mutation?
These specific proteins, produced by regulatory genes, can bind to the operator to physically block RNA polymerase from transcribing the genes.
What are repressor proteins?
While transcription occurs in the nucleus, this is the cellular location where translation takes place in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes.
What is the ribosome?
These "distal" control elements may be thousands of nucleotides away from the promoter but can still greatly increase the rate of gene expression when bound by activator proteins
What are enhancers?
Originating as a bacterial "immune system," this modern technology allows scientists to edit genes with high precision
What is CRISPR?
This type of point mutation occurs when a single nucleotide change results in a codon that codes for a different amino acid than the original, potentially altering the protein's function. Give me an example of a disease that involves this type of mutation.
What is missense mutation? (Sickle cell anemia)
This small molecule binds to a repressor protein to change its shape and allow it to bind to the operator, effectively turning the operon off. State an example of this in the trp operon.
What is a corepressor molecule? Tryptophan