8.1 genes & the genetic code

Question 1

what is a gene?

Answer 1

region of dna that codes for a polypeptide / functional rna

Question 2

what does a tRNA do?

Answer 2

transfer amino acid to ribosome & inserts it in the correct location

Question 3

what does rRNA do?

Answer 3

forms part of the ribosomal structure

Question 4

what is a locus?

Answer 4

specific location on a specific chromosome

Question 5

how many triplet codons are there?

Answer 5

64

Question 6

what does the degenerate code mean?

Answer 6

amino acids are coded by 1+ triplet code

Question 7

which is the starting codon & what is its name?

Answer 7

methionine (AUG)

Question 8

how many amino acids there are in nature?

Answer 8

20

Question 9

how many bases are read in a codon?

Answer 9

3, triplet codon

Question 10

how is the translation process stopped?

Answer 10

stop codons

Question 11

in which direction is the genetic code read?

Answer 11

5’ to 3’

Question 12

what are exons?

Answer 12

coding region

Question 13

what are introns?

Answer 13

non-coding region within a gene (no information to code for amino acids)

Question 14

what is junk DNA?

Answer 14

non-coding region of DNA between genes