9.3, 9.4, 11, 12 Flashcards
(100 cards)
_____ consist of one small ribosomal subunit and one large ribosomal subunit
Ribosomes
The sequence _____ is found at the very 3′ end of all tRNAs, the amino acid attachment site.
5′-CCA-3′
Single-stranded, 75 nucleotides, cloverleaf shape with four double-helical stems and three single-stranded loops.
tRNA
A nucleotide triplet in a tRNA molecule that aligns with a particular codon in mRNA under the influence of the ribosome; the amino acid carried by the tRNA is inserted into a growing protein chain.
anticodon
anticodon is complementary to:
the mRNA codon for the amino acid carried by the tRNA
tRNAs are transcribed with:
the standard four nucleotides
;All tRNAs fold into virtually the same inverted L-shaped three-dimensional ____ conformation.
cloverleaf
The anticodon in tRNA and the codon in the mRNA interact by:
specific RNA:RNA base pairing
anticodons are oriented and written in the _____ direction
3′-to-5′
tRNAs have four important structural features:
(1) the sequence CCA at the 3′ end; (2) modified nucleotides such as dihydrouridine, pseudouridine, and inosine; (3) an overall inverted L shape; and (4) an anticodon.
Amino acids are attached to tRNAs by enzymes called:
aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases
The tRNA with an attached amino acid is said to be
charged tRNA
First step of charging tRNA
carboxyl group of the amino acid reacts with the α-phosphate of ATP to form 5′-aminoacyl-AMP and release pyrophosphate
Second step of charging tRNA
the amino acid is transferred to the adenosine (A) of the invariant CCA sequence at the 3′ end of the tRNA, and AMP is released as a by-product.
If the wrong amino acid is attached…
there is no way to prevent it from being incorporated into a growing polypeptide chain - amino acids are “illiterate”
to prevent mistakes, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases have a ______ that discriminates between chemically similar amino acids such as valine (Val) and isoleucine (Ile), which differ by only a single CH2 group
two-step mechanism
The first discrimination step
rejects amino acids that do not fit into the activation site because they are too large
The second discrimination step
Val-tRNAIle, but not Ile-tRNAIle, fits into a separate active site of the synthetase and is hydrolyzed to valine and tRNAIle
______________ allows tRNAs to recognize more than one codon
Wobble base pairing
the third codon
the wobble position
inosine (I), a rare modified base in tRNA, can base pair to
C, U, A
Therefore, because of wobble base pairing, cells require ______ tRNAs to read all of the codons.
fewer than 61
Sedimentation coefficients in ______ measure the size of the molecule.
Svedberg (S) units
In bacteria, the small and large subunits are _________ and form a ____ particle.
30S and 50S; 70S