Molecular Biology Ch.

1 – Genes, DNA, RNA, polypeptides

- Chromosome – discrete unit of genome, carries genes

- Structural gene – gene that encodes RNA or polypeptide, NOT regulators
- Genetic recombination – separate DNA molecules join into 1 molecule
o Result of crossing over or transposition
- Genetic linkage – genes on same chromosome remain together instead of independently assorting
o Dont follow Mendel’s principles
o Recombination frequency between loci is proportional to physical distance
NUCLEOTIDE
- Griffith (1928) – S pneumoniae kills mice
o S strain = encapsulated, bad, gives rise to R, recovered from blood
o R strain = failed to produce capsule, good
- Nucleotide
o Purine or pyrimidine + 1 carbon (pentose sugar)
o Nucleoside + phosphate group on 5’ or 3’ C of deoxy/ribose
 Nucleoside is linked
- DNA vs RNA
o DNA – deoxyribose sugar (2’- H)
o RNA – ribose sugar (2’-OH)
- Deoxy/ribose units
o Joined by phosphate groups between 3’ C and 5’ C (5’ -> 3’)
- Nucleic acid building blocks
o Nitrogenous base + sugar + 1 or more phosphates
- Nitrogenous bases
o Glyosidic bonds link base to 1’ C on pentose sugar
- Bonding
o Glyosidic bonds link nitrogenous bases linked to 1’ C pentose
o Nucleosides are linked to P group at 5’ C
o Phosphate bonds link 5’ C to 3’ C on pentose sugars (create polynucleotide chain)
- DNA Replication
- utations
o Affect single base pairs or longer sequences
 Point mutation – changes a single base pair
 Transition – substitutes a G-C base pair with A-T base pair, or vice versa
 Tranversion – replaces purine with pyrimidine (ex. A-T to T-A)
 Insertions and deletions – result from movement of transposable elements
 Frameshift mutation – insertion within coding region
 Forward mutations – alter function of gene
o Ex. Insertions can revert by deletion of inserted material
 Back mutations (revertants) – reverse gene effects
 Supression – when mutation in second gene bypasses effect of mutation in first gene
o Cause loss or gain of function
 Recessive mutaitons – due to loss of function by polypeptide product
 Dominant mutations – due to gain of function
 Synonymous mutations – no phenotypic effect; base pair change has no effect
 Null mutation – eliminates complete gene function because of deletion
 Loss-of-function mutations – impede gene function, recessive
o Leaky mutation – phenotype unchanged but protein activity affected
 Gain-of-function – causes protein to acquire new function, dominant
 Silent mutations – no apparent phenotypic effect
 Synonymous - base changes in DNA that don’t cause any change in amino acid in polypeptide
 Neutral substitutations – base changes in DNA that change amino acid but plays neutral role
- Genetic code
o Relationship between DNA sequence and sequence of corresponding polypeptide
o Read in triplet nucleotides (codons)
 Nonoverlapping – eah codon has 3 nucleotides (3 x 3)
 Fixed starting point – assembly of polypeptide begins at one end
- Expressing product of a gene
o Expression of bacterial gene – transcribed into mRNA then translated into polypeptide
o In eukayotes – introns are removed from pre-mRNA
o Each mRNA contains untranslated 5’ region (5’ UTR), coding region, and untranslated 3’ region (3’ UTR)
o Gene expression – infor from a gene is used to synthesize RNA or polypeptide product
 Transcription – mRNA copy of coding strand of DNA is produced (nucleus)
 Translation – mRNA converts into polypeptide (cytoplasm)