There are two stages of protein synthesis.

Transcription which occurs in the nucleus and involves

DNA and Mrna. Translation happens in the ribosomes

DNA Transcription

Transcription begins when RNA polymerase binds to

a promoter sequence near the beginning of a gene

-Happens in the cell nucleus

Transcription factor binds to the promoter region of a particular gene

DNA Helicase unwinds the gene region by breaking the hydrogen bonds between the two DNA
strands, the two separated strands are called the coding strand and template strand

Enzyme RNA polymerase will bind to the start codon of the gene and RNA polymerase will read the
nucleotides on the template strand and then recruits nucleotides that are complementary to the
template strand nucleotides. This makes the Mrna strand.

The MRNA strand is made from the 5’ to 3’ direction

When the RNA polymerase reaches the stop codon the transcription will cease. Throughout the
transcription as RNA polymerase moves away the DNA re-joins, with only 12 bases being exposed at
a time to reduce the chance of damage to the DNA.

Only in eukaryotic cells the pre-Mrna is then spliced in order to get rid of the introns leaving only the
coding strand of exons. Splicing happens using a protein called a spliceosome which are responsible
for targeting and removing the introns

A 5' cap is added to the beginning of the RNA transcript, and a 3' poly-A tail is added to the
end. Theses protect the RNA transcript and prevent enzymes hydrolysing it.

Mrna leaves using a nuclear pore in the nucleus because it is too big to fit through the nuclear
membrane.

Translation

Involves TRNA

Trna carries

Ribosome binds onto the Mrna AT A START CODON

The codon is matched to a complementary anti-codon whaich is to do with complementary base

pairing

Ribosomes holds trna in place

Amino acids are joined together with a peptide bond

The used trna is sent back to the cytoplasm to gain the same amino acid again, attaching the amino
acid takes some energy.

During translation amino acids join to form a polypeptide chain:

1. mRNA attaches to a ribosome and transfer RNA collects amino acids from the cytoplasm and
carries them to the ribosome. tRNA is a single stranded molecule with a binding site at one end thus
it can only carry one type of amino acid, and a triplet of bases (anticodon) at the other.

2. tRNA attaches itself to mRNA by complementary base pairing – two molecules attach to mRNA at
a time.

3. The amino acids attached to two tRNA molecules join by a peptide bond and then tRNA molecules
detach themselves from the amino acids, leaving them behind.

4. This process is repeated thus leading to the formation of a polypeptide chain until a stop codon is
reached on mRNA and ends the process of protein synthesis.

A ribosome can join up to 15 amino acids per second until the stop codon is reached. Furthermore,
up to 50 ribosomes can move along the same strand of mRNA behind one another so that several
proteins can be assembled simultaneously
DNA is a polymer of nucleotides

Nucleotides consist of

 A pentose sugar
 A nitrogenous base
 A phosphate group

DNA has the bases A,T,G,C

RNA has the bases A,U,G,C

Both DNA and RNA carry information, but DNA just holds that shit whereas RNA transfers all that
genetic info from DNA to ribosomes to create proteins.

DNA is a double helix

While RNA is a linear, short chain

The order of bases on DNA is called the genetic code, which consists of triplets of bases

 The triplets code, codes for a particular codon to make a certain amino acid

A gene is a sequence of bases on a DNA molecule for coding for a sequence of amino acids which
then make a specific gene

 The location of a gene is called the locus. However, not all the genome codes for proteins.
 The non-coding sections of DNA are called introns the coding regions are called exons

Features of the genetic code

 Its non-overlapping meaning that each triplet is only read once, and triplets don’t share
any bases.
 Genes are separated by the non-coding repeats of bases
 Genetic code is degenerate meaning that more than one triplet codes for the same
amino acid. This reduces the number of mutations that are able to change what amino
acid is coded for.
 Its universal, which means that the same sequences of 3 bases encode the same amino
acids in all life forms from simple microorganisms to complex, multicellular organisms
such as human beings.

Prokaryotic DNA vs Eukaryotic DNA:

Prokaryotic DNA is;

circular

not associated w/ proteins

Short
Eukaryotes

The DNA is found in the nucleus

The DNA is long and linear

They are associated with proteins called histones to form structures called chromosomes.

The mitochondria and the chloroplasts have the same DNA as the prokaryotes

A homologous pair consists of two chromosomes that carry the same genes, although they aint
identical cause they can carry different alleles of the same gene e.g. they can both have the eye
color gene but one codes from blue eyes the other codes for brown eyes

23rd chromosome codes for the sex

Mutations

Mutations usually happen due to replication erros

Types of mutations:

 Point mutations: Mutations in a single base of DNA

o Base pair deletion: one or more bases are incorrectly deleted from sequence
o Base pair substitution: one or more bases are replaced with another base
o Base pair insertion: one or more bases are incorrectly added to the sequence
o Sense mutation: Amino acid is made (even if it’s the same amino acid)
o Non-sense: a STOP codon is made, cause the STOP codon has no amino acid
Deletion shifts the entire sequence to the left

Insertion move everything to the right

Frame shifts change how every codon is read