Nucleic Acid Preparation Guide
1. What 2 things must happen to a DNA molecule before it can be replicated?
2. What triggers the release of an amino acid from a tRNA molecule?
3. Compare and contrast gene expression with mutation.
4. List and describe all the types of point and frame shift mutation.
5. Explain the function of the lac operon in the presence of glucose, the presence of lactose and the
presence of both.
6. Describe the DNA discoveries by Avery, Griffith, Hersey and Chase, Franklin, Watson and Crick.
7. Use the terms polymer, nucleotide, nitrogenous base, phosphate group and deoxyribose sugar to
describe DNA structure.
8. List the 2 purines and 2 pyrimidines of DNA and describe their main structural difference.
9. What is Chargaff’s Rule?
10. Why is DNA replication described as a semi-conservative process?
11. Identify the function of the following enzymes involved in DNA replication.
Helicase
DNA polymerase
DNA polymerase III
DNA polymerase I
Topoisomerase
RNA primase
DNA ligase
12. Describe the 3 major structural differences between DNA and RNA.
13. Describe the sequence of events necessary for transcription to produce an edited strand of mRNA
that is ready to perform translation and protein synthesis.
14. Explain why tRNA anticodons are actually a copy of the DNA even though mRNA codons are copied
directly from DNA and anticodons are not.
15. Describe the function of rRNA.
16. What is the function of a repressor protein?
17. Using the codon chart below what would be the sequence of amino acids produced from the
following edited mRNA sequence?
AUGCCCGCAUGCGUAUGA
18. What DNA code would cause the manufacture of the following polypeptide sequence: methionine,
alanine, leucine, proline, histidine, valine, proline, tyrosine, alanine?
19. When mRNA is edited which portions are retained and which are discarded?
20. Why is it necessary to add a 5’ cap and poly A tail to and edited mRNA transcript?
21. Explain the function of hydrogen bonds in DNA.
22. Which portion of the DNA molecule is responsible for carrying coded genetic information?
23. DNA code is responsible for carrying the information necessary to build molecules that are
assembled into our complex traits. What type of molecules are built?
24. What is the function of topoisomerase?
25. What are Okazaki fragments?