MODELING PROTEIN SYNTHESIS

Transcription
1. Act as DNA helicase enzyme by unzipping a short section of a DNA
molecule, exposing the nucleotide bases in that region.

2. The nucleotide bases on the template strand of DNA (3’ to 5’), pair
with their complementary RNA nucleotides from the pool that is
present in the nucleus. Use the RNA nucleotides to produce your
strand of pre-mRNA (using the complementary base pairing rules –
remember RNA has uracil instead of thymine).

3. Act as the enzyme RNA polymerase by going along the strand joining
the nucleotides together (place sellotape or blue tac between the sugar
and phosphate of adjacent nucleotides) to form a pre-mRNA molecule.
Ensure that you rejoin the strands of DNA behind the RNA polymerase
molecule.

4. In the space below, sketch the mRNA model that you transcribed from
the DNA segment.

Splicing

5. In eukaryotes the pre-mRNA that you have just produced in transcription

undergoes a process called splicing where introns (sections of non-sense
DNA that do not code for proteins) are removed and exons (sections of
DNA that code for proteins) are rejoined. In our section of DNA the only
introns are in positions 7, 8 and 9 (GCU) on the 5’ to 3’ strand. These must
be removed and the exons joined back together.
Translation

6. Refer to the figure at right. Each tRNA molecule has a specific

anticodon that you will need to translate your mRNA model. Use the
“ribosome” oval cards to model translation. Remember the ribosome
has an E site, a P site and an A site.
7. A ribosome becomes attached to the first two
codons at one end of the mRNA (AUG should be
your start codon – you may need to flip your mRNA
over so that it enters the ribosome correctly).
8. A tRNA molecule with complementary anti-codon
(UAC) carrying methionine, pairs with the codon on
mRNA (binds to P-site). ATP has already been used to bind the correct
amino acid to the tRNA molecule (the Velcro strips keep the amino
acid bound to the tRNA).
9. A tRNA molecule with a complementary anticodon (GCG) pairs with
the next codon on mRNA (CGC) (binds to A-site/amino-acyl site). This
tRNA molecule carries another amino acid (arginine – attached by
velcro).
10. The two amino acids (methionine and arginine) on the tRNA are
joined by a peptide bond (use a treasury tag to symbolize this) using
an enzyme to catalyse the reaction and ATP which is hydrolysed to
supply energy.
11. The ribosome moves along a distance of one codon, to the third
codon in the sequence of mRNA, thereby linking the amino acids on
the second and third tRNA molecules.
12. As this happens, the first tRNA is released from its amino acid
(methnionine) and is released from the E site - free to collect another
amino acid (methionine) from the amino acid pool in the cytoplasm of
the cell.
13. The process continues in this way until a polypeptide chain is
completed.
14. The synthesis of a polypeptide continues until a ribosome reaches
a stop codon (you should also reach a stop codon). At this point the
ribosome, mRNA and the last tRNA molecule all separate and the
polypeptide chain is complete.
15. You may then need to further fold your protein.
16. Write the sequence of amino acids that resulted from the
translation.
Questions:

1. What are the roles of the ribosome in protein synthesis? (3 marks)

What is a ribosome made of? (1 mark)
2. Describe the process of transcription and the process of translation.
(10 marks)
3. What is the relationship between the anticodon of a tRNA and the
amino acid the tRNA carries? (1 mark)
4. Write the mRNA transcript of the template strand of DNA sequence
presented below. (2 marks)

CTG TTC ATA ATT

Next, write the tRNA anticodons that would pair with the mRNA transcript. (2
marks)

Use the table to write the amino acids coded for by the mRNA transcript. (2
marks)

5. If you transcribed the “wrong” side of the DNA molecule, what would
the result be? How might the proteins that the organism produced be
affected? (2 marks)

6. What are the advantages of having DNA remain in the nucleus of

eukaryotic cells? (1 mark)