MIC270/210

BASIC MOLECULAR
BIOLOGY

CHAPTER 2
Gene Structure
Dr. Nor’Aishah Hasan
It’s all in the DNA
 Genetic material found
in every living cell

 Contains information to
make proteins
Fig. 16-1
1. DNA Structure & function

• Polymer made of 4 nucleotides : A, C, T, G

• polynucleotide eg. A-G-T-C-C-A-A-G-C-T-T….
• DNA is double stranded - Double-helix
• Complementary base pairing
• Anti-parallel
The Double Helix
The complete DNA molecule is made up of two complementary strands in
antiparallel directions

http://physicsweb.org/objects/world/16/3/7/pwhux4_03-03.jpg
 3’
Complementary base-pairing 5’
• A always pair with T
• C pairs with G

Antiparallel
• each strand of DNA has a “direction”
• at one end, the terminal carbon atom in
the backbone is the 5’ carbon atom
• at the other end, the terminal carbon
atom is the 3’ carbon atom
• therefore each DNA strand has a 5’ and a
3’ end
• in a double helix, the two strands are
always antiparallel
5’
The length (or size) of a DNA molecule 3’
is measured in basepairs (bp)
1 kilobase (kb) = 1,000 bp
1 Megabase (Mb) = 1,000,000 bp
How one nucleotide can be joined to another through the 5’-PO4
(5 prime phosphate) and the 3’-OH (3 prime hydroxyl)
Many nucleotides can be joined in such a way to form a
polynucleotide chain → a single stranded DNA
Chromosomes and DNA

DNA is packaged in the

form of chromosomes in
the nucleus of a cell.

The chromosomes contain

DNA tightly wounded
around proteins.
2. Genes and genomes
The Genome - complete set of DNA for an organism

A comparison of genomes

Organism Amount of No of No of genes

DNA Chromosomes

Human 3 Gb 46 100,000

Yeast 13 Mb 16 6,000

E.coli 4.5 kb 1 1,000

A Gene
• a specific DNA sequence that
contains genetic information
• information required to make a
specific type of protein
• that information is stored in the
sequence on the ‘sense’ strand
• we say that a gene encodes a
protein
• thus a DNA molecule can contain
many genes
• the gene sequence is always
written 5’ → 3’

5’ATGCTTGGACGTGATGACATTGGAGGA... ‘sense’
3’TACGAACCTGCACTACTGTAACCTCCT... ‘antisense’
3. The Genetic Code and mutation
– how the DNA (or mRNA) sequence is translated into
the amino acid sequence of a protein
Reading frames
• There are 3 ways to read a gene sequence – reading frames
• Each reading frame will give a different result
• Only one reading frame is correct (usually)
Gene mutation
• Information coded in the DNA sequence is used to make proteins
• If the DNA sequence is changed, what will happen?
• A change in the genetic information is called a mutation. The outcome
depends on the nature of the ‘change’.

• 3 types of DNA sequence mutations

Substitution mutations

-change of 1 base
-AAC ATA ACG CCG CGA GAT GAA –
Asn Ile Thr Pro Arg Asp Glu
a. Silent mutation
What happens to
- AAC ATC ACG CCG CGA GAT GAA – the amino acid
sequence?
b. Missense mutation What happens to
the protein?
- AAC ATA AAG CCG CGA GAT GAA –

c. Nonsense mutation

- AAC ATA ACG CCG TGA GAT GAA –

Frameshift mutations

a. Deletion

- AAC ATC AC CCG CGA GAT GAA –

b. Insertion

- AAC AATA AAG CCG CGA GAT GAA –

Mutation can also happen due to
-changes in long DNA sequences
-changes in the structure of genes/ chromosomes
-changes in the number of genes/ chromosomes
-e.g. Mutations leading to cystic fibrosis
4. DNA denaturation and renaturation
Denaturation – breaking up of the double helix molecule
 hydrogen bonds broken
 by heating to > 96oC (and also other conditions)
 Tm = the melting point of a DNA molecule
 depends on the GC content
 higher %GC → higher Tm

Renaturation - if the denatured DNA strands are allowed

to cool slowly
 the can re-anneal with each other and regain the double
helix structure
 reannealing by complementary base-pairing