MINISTRY OF HEALTH OF UKRAINE

STATE ESTABLISHMENT "DNIPROPETROVSK MEDICAL ACADEMY OF

HEALTH MINISTRY OF UKRAINE"
DEPARTMENT OF MEDICAL BIOLOGY, PHARMACOGNOSY AND
BOTANY

“APPROVED”
on methodical session of
Medical Biology,
Pharmacognosy and Botany
Department
№___ from _________20__.
Head of the Department
prof. V. F. Shatorna

____________________
(signature
)

METHODOLOGICAL INSTRUCTION FOR THE LECTURE

Educational subject Medical Biology

Semester 1 Biological characteristics human vital function.
Organism level of organization of life. Basic
principles of human genetics.
Topic Organism’s level of organization genetic
information. Gene interactions
Course 1st
Faculty Medical

DNIPRO – 2017
 Plan of the lecture:

 Characterization of nucleic acids: DNA and RNA,

 Spatial organization,
 DNA replication.
 Structure of pro-and eukaryotes gene.
 Synthesis of prtoteins

References:

1. Lazarev K.L. Medical Biology: Textbook. - Second edition. Simferopol:

IAD CSMU, 2003
2. Romanenko O. V. Medical biology: The study guide of the practical classes
course / O. V. Romanenko, O. V. Golovchenko, M. G. Kravchuk, V. M.
Grinkevych; edited by O. V. Romanenko. – K.: Medicne, 2008.

Thesis Lectures on the topic:

« ORGANISM’S LEVEL OF ORGANIZATION GENETIC
INFORMATION. GENE INTERACTIONS »
The number of hours: 2
 Nucleic acids are molecules that allow organisms to transfer genetic
information from one generation to the next. There are two types of nucleic acids:
deoxyribonucleic acid (better known as DNA) and ribonucleic acid (better known
as RNA).

Nucleotides

Nucleic acids are composed of nucleotide monomers linked together.

Nucleotides contain three parts:
 A Nitrogenous Base: adenine, guanine (purine bases), thymine, uracil and
cytosine (pyrimidine bases)
 A Five-Carbon Sugar: deoxyribose, ribose.
 A Phosphate Group
Nucleotides are linked together to form polynucleotide chains. Nucleotides are
joined to one another by covalent bonds between the phosphate of one and the
sugar of another. These linkages are called phosphodiester linkages.
Phosphodiester linkages form the sugar-phosphate backbone of both DNA and
RNA.
DNA double helix
• Double helical structure was proposed by
Watson & Crick in 1953.
• The DNA is a right handed double helix.
• It consists of two polydeoxyribonucleotide
chains twisted around each other on a common
axis of symmetry.
• The chains are paired in an antiparallel manner,
that is, the 5'-end of one strand is paired with the
3'-end of the other strand,
•The two strands are antiparallel, i.e., one strand
runs in the 5 ' to 3 ' direction while the other runs
in 3' to 5 ' direction.
• The width (or diameter) of a double helix is
20A0 (2nm)
• Each turn of helix is 34 A0 (3.4nm) with 10
pairs of nucleotides, each pair placed at a distance of about 3.4 A0
• The polynucleotide chains are not identical but complementary to each other due
to base pairing.
• The two strands are held together by hydrogen bonds. A = T, G = C
• The hydrogen bonds are formed between a purine & pyrimidine.
• The spatial relationship between the two strands in the helix creates a major
(wide) groove and a minor (narrow) groove.
Chargaff’s rule
• DNA had equal numbers of adenine & thymine residues (A=T) and equal number
of guanine & cytosine residues(G=C).
• This is called as Chargaff’s rule of molar equivalence of between purines &
pyramidines in DNA structure.
• RNAs which are usually single stranded, do not obey Chargaff’s rule.

Ribonucleic acids(RNA)
Ribonucleic acids are presented by polynucleotide chain that consists of 4
types of nucleotides. Every nucleotide contains : ribose sugar,with carbons
numbered 1' through5',phosphategroup and one of 4 nitrogenous bases adenine,
guanine, cytosine and uracile. Phosphate group is attached to the 3' position of one
ribose and the 5' position of the next.

Types of RNA
• Messenger RNA: carries information for
protein syntehesis from the DNA in the
nucleus to the ribosomes.
• Transfer RNA: Brings amino asids to the
ribosomes for protein synthesis.
• Ribosomal RNA: Major component of the
ribosomes.

Replication
Replication-is a difficult biological process of reaction of matrix synthesis which
provides doubling of molecule of DNA.
 DNA helicase - unwinds and separates double stranded DNA as it moves
along the DNA. It forms the replication fork by breaking hydrogen bonds
between nucleotide pairs in DNA.
 DNA primase - a type of RNA polymerase that generates RNA primers.
Primers are short RNA molecules that act as templates for the starting
point of DNA replication.
 DNA polymerases - synthesize new DNA molecules by adding
nucleotides to leading and lagging DNA strands.
 Topoisomerase or DNA Gyrase - unwinds and rewinds DNA strands to
prevent the DNA from becoming tangled or supercoiled.
  DNA ligase - joins DNA fragments together by forming phosphodiester
bonds between nucleotides.

Repair.
On DNA mutagene factors (spontaneous, induced) influence constantly. Most
changes of mutations can block of DNA replication and cause death of cage.
Therefore all cages have the special systems of correction of damages in the
DNA. Ability of cells to correct a damage in the molecules of DNA is named
repair.

Gene mutation
Missense mutation
Nonsense mutation
Insertion
Deletion
Duplication

Gene
Gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism.
Gene is an area of molecule of DNA that includes promoter, structural sequence
and terminator.
Regulator gene—or regulatory gene is a gene involved in controlling the
expression of one or more other genes. Regulator gene may encode a protein, or it
may work at the level of RNA, as in the case of genes encoding.
Promoter—region of DNA to which RNA polymerase binds before initiating the
transcription of DNA into RNA.
Operator-a sequence of DNA that interacts with a repressor of operon to control
the expression of adjacent structural genes.
Structural gene—is a gene that codes for any RNA or protein product other than a
regulatory element (i.e. regulatory protein)
Terminator—DNA sequence at the end of a transcription unit that causes RNA
polymerase to stop transcription.
Exon—region of a gene that contains the code for producing protein. Each exon
codes for a specific portion of the complete protein. Exons are separated by
introns, long regions of DNA that have no
apparent function.
Intron—portion of DNA that lies between two exons, is transcribed into RNA, but
does not appear in mRNA after maturation because introns removed and the exons
spliced together, and so is not expressed (as protein) in protein synthesis.

Genetic code
Genetic code is system of rules by which information encoded in genetic material
(DNA or mRNA sequences) is translated into amino acid sequences

Characteristics of Genetic Code

1. Triplet nature. The genetic code is a triplet code. Three adjacent bases,
Termed a codon, Specify one amino asid.
2. No overlapping. The adjacent codons do not overlap/
3. No punctuation. The genetic code has no “punctuation marks” (gap)
beetween the coding triplets.
4. Universality The genetic code it is similar for all living organisms).
5. Degeneracy. Most amino acids are specified by several triplets.
6. Terminatir codons or “nonsense” codons. UAA,UAG,UGA do not specify
any amino asid, but signal the end of a message.
7. Colinearity.

Synthesis of proteins

Transcription

Transcription is the process

in which a gene's DNA sequence is
copied (transcribed) to make an
RNA molecule. RNA polymerase
is the main transcription enzyme.
Transcription begins when RNA
polymerase binds to a promoter
sequence near the beginning of a gene (directly or through helper proteins). RNA
polymerase uses one of the DNA strands (the template strand) as a template to
make a new, complementary RNA molecule. Transcription ends in a process called
termination. Termination depends on sequences in the RNA, which signal that the
transcript is finished.

Processing

When an RNA transcript is first made in a eukaryotic cells, it is considered a

pre-mRNA and must be processed into a messenger RNA (mRNA).A 5' cap is
added to the beginning of the RNA transcript, and a 3' poly-A tail is added to the
end.In splicing, some sections of the RNA transcript (introns) are removed, and the
remaining sections (exons) are stuck back together.Some genes can be alternatively
spliced, leading to the production of different mature mRNA molecules from the
same initial transcript.

Translation:

Initiation: in this stage, the ribosome gets together with the mRNA and the
first tRNA so translation can begin.
Elongation: in this stage, amino acids are brought to the ribosome by tRNAs
and linked together to form a chain.
Termination: in the last stage, the finished polypeptide is released to go and
do its job in the cell.