Honor Bio 8.3 Flashcards
(16 cards)
What is transcription?
The process by which the information in a strand of DNA is copied into a new molecule of messenger RNA (mRNA).
What is the central dogma of molecular biology?
The central dogma describes the flow of genetic information: DNA → RNA → Protein.
What are the base pairing rules for RNA?
Adenine (A) pairs with Uracil (U), and Cytosine (C) pairs with Guanine (G).
What are the main differences between DNA and RNA?
NA is double-stranded, contains deoxyribose sugar, and has thymine (T). RNA is single-stranded, contains ribose sugar, and has uracil (U) instead of thymine.
What are the similarities between DNA and RNA?
Both are nucleic acids, contain adenine, cytosine, and guanine, and are involved in the storage and transmission of genetic information.
What are the main parts of a eukaryotic gene?
Enhancer, promoter, exons, introns, and terminator.
What is an enhancer?
A DNA sequence that increases the transcription of a gene by binding transcription factors.
What is a promoter?
A DNA sequence where RNA polymerase binds to initiate transcription.
What are exons?
The coding regions of a gene that are expressed in the final mRNA and translated into proteins.
What are introns?
Non-coding regions of a gene that are transcribed into pre-mRNA but are removed during splicing.
What are the three stages of transcription?
Initiation, elongation, and termination.
What happens during the initiation stage of transcription?
RNA polymerase binds to the promoter region of the DNA, and the DNA strands unwind
What happens during the elongation stage of transcription?
RNA polymerase synthesizes a complementary RNA strand by adding nucleotides to the 3’ end of the growing RNA molecule.
What happens during the termination stage of transcription?
RNA polymerase reaches a terminator sequence, and the RNA transcript is released.
Explain what happens during the splicing process.
During splicing, introns are removed from the pre-mRNA transcript, and exons are joined together. This is carried out by the spliceosome, which recognizes specific sequences at the intron-exon boundaries.
Explain what happens during alternative splicing.
Alternative splicing allows a single gene to produce multiple protein isoforms by including or excluding certain exons during the splicing process. This increases the diversity of proteins that can be produced from a single gene.
