DNA, Protein Synthesis, and Gene Expression Review
Historical Contributions
1. Describe the experiments and conclusions of
a. Griffith
b. Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty
c. Hersey and Chase
2. Describe the contributions of
a. Levene
b. Chargaff
c. Franklin
d. Watson and Crick
DNA Structure
3. What are the three parts of a DNA nucleotide (be specific)?
4. Which bases are purine, and which are pyrimidine? What is the basic
structure of each (single ring or double ring)?
5. Why is DNA called a double helix?
6. What is in the DNA backbone, and why are they considered antiparallel?
7. What are the base pairing rules for DNA?
8. What is the name of the structures formed when DNA is looped around
histone proteins?
9. Order these words from least coiled to most coiled: chromosome,
nucleosome, 30 nm fiber, double helix.
10. What is the difference between chromatin and chromosomes? When during
the cell cycle is the DNA found in each form?
DNA Replication
11. Why is DNA replication considered semiconservative?
12. When does DNA replication occur?
13. What is the function of each of the following enzymes:
a. Helicase
d. DNA polymerase (DNAP)
b. Binding Proteins
e. Ligase
c. Primase
14. Why does replication happen continuously on one strand and discontinuously
on the other?
15. What are the designations (from left to right) of the original DNA strand
that has continuous replication?
16. What are the designations (from left to right) of the original DNA strand
that has discontinuous replication?
17. What is the name of the fragments created by the discontinuous
replication?
18. Given the base sequence: ACGTAGC. What will the replicated DNA
sequence be.
RNA Structure
19. What are the three parts of a RNA nucleotide (be specific)?
20. What are the three structural differences between DNA and RNA?
21. What are the base pairing rules between RNA and DNA?
22. What are the three main types of RNA that we studied?
23. What is the structure and function of mRNA?
24. What are every three bases on mRNA called?
25. What is the structure and function of tRNA?
26. What is the three letter base on one end of a tRNA called?
27. What is the function of rRNA?
28. What is RNA called if it acts as an enzyme (like rRNA in the ribosome)?
Protein Synthesis
29. What is transcription, and where does it occur?
30. What is a promoter?
31. Who binds to the promoter to initiate transcription, and what is the specific
area within the promoter that they are looking for?
32. What is the role of RNA polymerase, and how is its function limited?
33. What is name of the strand being transcribed, and in what direction does it
run (from left to right)?
34. What is the name of strand not being transcribed, and in what direction
does it run (from left to right)?
35. Before it has been processed, what is the name of the transcript?
36. What three things happen to process a transcript?
37. How can the same gene code for different final proteins because of mRNA
processing?
38. What is translation, and where does it occur?
39. How is translation initiated?
40. What are the two sites found in the ribosome, and which one is first?
41. What is the genetic code?
42. What three-base structure do you use to figure out the amino acid needed
from the chart?
43. What is the start codon, and what amino acid does it code for?
44. What do the stop codons code for?
45. What catalyses the peptide bonds found between amino acids at the
ribosome?
46. What is the function of chaperone proteins?
47. What are the four levels of protein folding?
48. What is a proteins final shape called, and why is it important that the
protein have the correct shape?
49. Perform protein synthesis. (You did this on the worksheets where you took
the DNA code and turned it into amino acid sequence. You will have the
codon chart.)
Gene Expression
50. What makes different cell types different?
51. What is proteomics the study of?
52. Name two ways that we can control gene expression.
53. What kinds of things do the non-protein coding sections of the genome do?