DNA Replication and Protein Synthesis
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic Acid is a nucleic acid which is a polymer made of nucleotides. The nucleotides are made of a nitrogen base (either Adenine, Guanine, Thymine, or Cytosine) a phosphate, and a 5 carbon sugar. In this case the 5 carbon sugar, ribose, is missing an oxygen.
When you connect millions of these together you have DNA
DNA Replication
Watch this video and take notes. Make sure you can explain a replication bubble and how DNA is copied.
Study your replication bubble and be able to draw one. You will have a quiz were you have to draw a replication bubble and label all the enzymes and parts.
Enzymes to know
-DNA Helicase
-DNA Polymerase
-DNA Primase
-RNA Primer
-DNA Ligase
-Repair Enzyme
-Binding Protein
Terms to know
- 5' (5 prime) and 3' (3 prime)
-Parent Strand
-Daughter Strand
-Semiconservative Replication
-Complimentary Base Pairs
-Leading Strand
-Lagging Strand
-Replication Fork
-Replication Bubble
Keep in mind that cells only do DNA replication to get ready to divide. If a cell is not going to enter Mitosis then there is no need to do DNA replication.
Protein Synthesis: Transcription and Translation
Here is an Intro to the Protein Pathway
Watch this video and take notes. You will have to memorize these terms and pathways.
DNA:
Nucleotides - Codons - Genes - Chromosomes - DNA
Protein Synthesis:
DNA - RNA - mRNA - Ribosome - tRNA - Amino Acids- Protein
The protein pathway...
Ribosome - Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum - Golgi Apparatus - Vesicle - Exocytosis
Transcription
Transcription is the process of reading DNA and creating RNA. Our cells do not actually read DNA and turn it into proteins, it is RNA that is really used as the instructions to make proteins. So the first step of protein synthesis is to read a segment of DNA (a gene) and "transcribe" it into an RNA strand. That RNA strand is slightly modified and then shipped out of the nucleus as an mRNA strand (Messenger RNA)
Translation
After the mRNA leaves the Nucleus it will begin the process of translation. Translation is the process where a ribosome reads the mRNA strand and builds a Protein strand based on the mRNA's instructions.
Here is a detailed explanation of Transcription and Translation.
Now that you know the whole process, lets watch what it looks like within a cell.
A Codon wheel can help us read mRNA. We can see which Amino acid a specific codon of RNA will attract.
Lets practice!
