Bio 105 - Contemporary Biology - Fall 2017 Learning Guide 03

Chapter: 10 Part: 1 of 1 Parts

Major Topic(s) Covered: Molecular Biology of the Gene

Read Section(s): Chapter 10 Introduction; 10.1 to 10.4; 10.6 to 10.12; & 10.15
Omit Section(s): 10.5; 10.13 to 10.14; 10.16 to 10.23

Why this Material? The revolution in medicine and biotechnology that will affect your
life has as its basis the ability of biologists to engineer the genetic make-up of
organisms. This depends on a firm understanding of the molecular basis of life coupled
with the development of tools to modify DNA, the direct chemical blueprint for genetic
information. If you are to be an informed citizen, you will need to have a basic
understanding of molecular biology.

Learning Objectives: Upon completion of this learning guide, you should be able to:

1. Understand the historical evidence used to show that DNA was the genetic
material.
The historical evidence used to show that DNA was the genetic material was originally
discovered by Frederick Griffith. He was studying two strains of a bacterium: one was
harmless and the other was a strain of pneumonia. When he killed the pathogenic
bacteria and added the remains with the living harmless bacteria, some living bacterial
cells became pathogenic. Furthermore, all of the descendants of the transformed
bacteria inherited the newly acquired ability to cause disease. Some chemical
component of the dead bacteria caused a heritable change in live bacteria.
Later on, Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase performed experiments that proved that DNA
was the genetic material of T2, a virus that infects the intestines of mammals. (E. coli)

2. Describe the chemical structure of DNA, from the constituents that make this important
polymer to the form the polymer is found in living organisms.
Made up of 4 nitrogen containing bases: adenine, cytosine, thymine, guanine
Each nucleotide has: a nitrogen base, a sugar, a phosphate group
Nucleotides are joined together by covalent bonds between the sugar of one
nucleotide and the phosphate of the next; this forms the sugar-phosphate backbone
The sugar is the deoxyribose because compared with the sugar ribose, it is
missing an oxygen atom. This means that DNA is without oxygen, unlike RNA
Thymine and cytosine are single-ring structures called pyrimidines
Adenine and guanine are larger, double-ring structures called puriness

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3. Describe the process of DNA replication and understand how the information in one
molecule is converted to two identical DNA molecules.
So how does DNA Replication work?
1. Each strand of the double-helix becomes a template for the assembly of a
complementary strand from a supply of free nucleotides available within the
nucleus.
2. The nucleotides line up one at a time along the template strand in accordance with
the base-pairing rules.
3. Enzymes link the nucleotides to form the new DNA strands.
4. The completed new molecules, identical to the parental molecule, are known as
daughter DNA, but that doesnt mean the DNA strand automatically indicates
gender.
5. Notice that when a double-helix replicates, each of the two daughter molecules
will have one old strand from the parental molecule and one newly created strand.
This is known as the semiconservative model because half of the parental
molecules is conserved in each daughter molecule.

4. Explain the differences between transcription and translation in terms of: the
relationship between the two processes, the products, and the location in the cell in which
these take place.
Transcription is the synthesis of RNA under the direction of DNA while translation is
the synthesis of protein under the direction of RNA.
Products: transcription produces RNA but translation produces proteins
Locations: transcription takes place in the nucleus of the cell and translation takes place in
the cytoplasm of the cell

6. Describe the relationship between codon, anti-codon and amino acid, and the roles
that the following play in connecting them:
Codon: sequence of three nucleotides that together form a unit of genetic code in a
DNA or RNA molecule
Anti-codon: triplet that is complementary to a codon triplet on mRNA
Amino acid: organic molecule containing a carboxyl group and an amino group;
serves as the monomer of proteins

a. m-RNA

b. t-RNA

c. Ribosomes.

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7. Given the dictionary of the genetic code, you should be able to produce an RNA
given a DNA strand and a protein sequence given an m-RNA strand.
Look at Group Activity No. 1
For producing a RNA given a DNA strand: use opposite nucleotides
For producing a protein sequence given a m-RNA strand: use opposite nucleotide but
keep in mind that A changes to U because there is no thymine in RNA, instead it is uracil

7. Understand the meaning and use of the following terms or ideas:

Nucleotide vs. Polynucleotide (e.g. DNA or RNA)

Chargaffs rule
States that the amount of one nucleotide and its base pair are equal. Therefore, the
amount of cytosine is equal to the amount of guanine and the amount of adenine is
equal to the amount of thymine. All organisms must follow the 1:1 rule.

DNA polymerase vs. RNA polymerase

DNA polymerase
Involved in replication
Enzyme which is going to work to add the nucleotides to the complementary
strand
RNA polymerase
Involved in TRANSCRIPTION
Transcription is a totally different process; the DNA molecule is being read and
then is going to be converted into a protein
See picture in notes

The structure of the ribosome

Ribosomes are the protein builders or the protein synthesizers of the cell. They connect
one amino acid at a time and build long chains. They are found in many places around
the cell including the cytoplasm and the endoplasmic reticulum. They coordinate the
functioning of mRNA and tRNA and catalyze the synthesis of polypeptides.

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