Anuvarsh Week 2
Contents
The Genetic Code
The Centra Dogma
In a nutshell, the central dogma of molecular biology is the transfer and use of genetic information from DNA to RNA to protein. This transfer of data happens in several processes which can be summarized in the graphic below:
This journal focuses on demonstrating the transcription and translation processes using the following segment of DNA as an example:
5’-cgtatgctaataccatgttccgcgtataacccagccgccagttccgctggcggcatttta-3’ 3'-gcatacgattatggtacaaggcgcatattgggtcggcggtcaaggcgaccgccgtaaaat-5'
Transcription
The process of transcription is used to transfer the genetic material in DNA to a functional copy called mRNA. Either strand of the DNA can be used to make RNA, but the RNA can only be created in the 5' to 3' direction. mRNA is created by using one of the strands of DNA as a template, and utilizing the base pairs of each base to create a complementary strand of genetic material. What differentiates transcription from replication (and mRNA from DNA) is that instead of thymine, adenine pairs to a base called uracil which is only found on RNA. After transcription, the following two strands of mRNA would be created:
5'-uaaaaugccgccagcggaacuggcggcuggguuauacgcggaacaugguauuagcauacg-3'
5'-cguaugcuaauaccauguuccgcguauaacccagccgccaguuccgcuggcggcauuuua-3'
Translation
Once the mRNAs have been created, the cell is now prepared to translate genetic material into a protein.
- There are six possible reading frames in double-stranded DNA. Using the genetic code, translate all possible reading frames of this DNA sequence, keeping in mind the following rules.
- In RNA, the T becomes a U, so everywhere you see a T in the sequence, read it as a U.
- The genetic code is read in the 5’ to 3’ direction.
- Use the single-letter abbreviations for the amino acids because that is what is commonly used by computer programs.
- Wiki Hint: if you start your line with a single space character, it will appear in the grey box surrounded by the dashed line as shown above.
- Which of the reading frames (if any) of the reading frames you translated is an open reading frame, i.e., does not contain a stop codon?
- By convention, the top strand frames are called +1, +2, +3, reading 5' to 3' and the bottom strand frames are called -1, -2, -3, reading 5' to 3'.
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User Page: Anindita Varshneya
Class Page: BIOL/CMSI 367: Biological Databases, Fall 2015
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