Protein Synthesis Flashcards
Why are proteins important
For making mew cells and to help us grow and repair our boddies
What are protein molecules made up of
Long chains of amino acids
What are protein
Macromolecules
What happens to a long chain of amino acids
It is then folded to make a 3D structure with a specific shape. This allows other molecules to fit in
What are hormones
Chemical messengers in the body e.g. insulin and oestrogen
Give an example of structural components
Tissues such as muscle and tendons
What are antibodies
Part of the immune system involved in destroying pathogens
What are catalysts
They are enzymes that increase the rate of chemical reactions
What are the 2 stages of protein synthesis
- Transcription
- Translation
What happens in Transcription
Takes place in the nucleus. The base sequence of DNA is copped into the messenger RNA
What happens in translation
The messenger RNA is used as a template to form the amino acid chain or polypeptide
What are the 4 steps of transcription
- An enzyme called RNA polymerase attached to DNA in front of a gene in a non-codung region
- The enzyme helicase separates the 2 DNA strabds by breaking the hydrogen bonds between base pairs
- The enzyme moves along the DNA strand addung complementary RNA nucleotides
- The nucleotides are linked go form a strand of messenger oRNA
What are the 6 stages of translation
- The mRNA travels out of the nuckeus through small holes in the membrane, called nuckear pores
- Once in the cytoplasm nmRNA attatxges to ribosomes
- The ribosome moves along the mRNA three bases at a time. Each triplet of base us called a codon
- At each codon a molecuke of trabsfer RNA wuth complementary bases line up
- Each tRNA molecule carries a soecific amino acid. As the ribosome miges along, it joins the amino acids to form a polypeptide
- The polypeptide chain can then fold up to form a protein
