HINSDALE SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM GUIDE
Course:
Date:
Topic/Unit 5: Machinery – The Protein
Designer(s):
Chapters/Resources:
Chapter 4.13,4.14
Chapter 5
Course Goals
GOAL 1: Understand the processes of scientific inquiry and technological design to investigate questions, conduct experiments and solve problems.
GOAL 2: Understand the fundamental concepts, principles and interconnections of the life, physical and earth/space sciences.
GOAL 3: Understand the relationships among science, technology and society in historical and contemporary contexts.
Enduring Understandings
Pattern 1: Life builds from the bottom up
Pattern 2: Life assembles itself into chains
Pattern 4: Life uses a few themes to generate many variations
Pattern 5: Life organizes with information
Pattern 6: Life encourages variety by recombining information
Pattern 12: Life maintains itself by turnover (protein turnover,
breakdown)
Essential Questions
Course Objectives: Students will be able to…
1. Describe the structure of a protein (peptide bonds, amino acid sequence determines shape, 3-D shape
determines function)
a. --b. Give some examples of proteins that are involved in DNA replication
Complete a dehydration reaction showing the formation of a peptide bond.
What causes the secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structures of proteins?
What are the two main types of secondary structures found in proteins?
c. What type of bond occurs between amino acids?
Identify the amine and the carboxyl group on an amino acid.
Which part of the amino acid gives it its uniqueness? R-groups
What determines the function of a protein? It’s structure.
2. Describe the steps, significance, and regulation of transcription
a. State the steps of transcription, using the proper names of the enzymes involved
b. State the steps of transcription
State Framework Item(s)
DuPage Biochem Obj 3
Explain the role of transcription factors
c. What is the product of transcription?
Where does transcription occur?
Why doesn’t DNA leave the nucleus?
What is the role of mRNA?
How is mRNA’s structure different from DNA’s?
Given a strand of DNA, determine the mRNA transcript that would be produced.
DuPage Genetics Obj 10
3. Describe the steps, significance, and regulation of translation
a. State the steps of translation, using the proper names of the enzymes involved
How are dehydration/hydrolysis essential for the process of translation? (must break apart food
you eat; must combine amino acids to form polypeptide chain)
Give a situation where the cell would use regulation to alter the production of proteins.
b. State the steps of translation
Explain two ways transcription/translation can be regulated by the cell (DNA packing, methylation,
methylated G-cap, poly-A tail, transcription factors, enhancers, inhibitors)
What is the role of rRNA?
What is the difference between the products made by the ribosome depending on the ribosome
location?
If the DNA in your skin cell and liver cells is exactly the same, why do these cells behave differently?
Describe the structure of tRNA? (Include discussion of anticodon, amino acid binding site)
c. What is the product of translation? (Chain of amino acids/polypeptide chain)
What is the role of the Rough ER in protein synthesis? (Channels, modifies proteins)
What is the role of the Golgi in translation? (Packages, tags, distributes proteins)
Where do amino acids come from? (From diet, synthesized by cell – essential vs. non-essential
amino acids)
What is a codon?
Identify the start, stop codons in a given mRNA sequence.
Where does translation occur?
What is the role of mRNA, tRNA?
What is the role of the ribosome?
Where can ribosomes be found?
How is mRNA’s structure different from DNA’s?
Given a strand of mRNA, determine the polypeptide that would be produced.
4. Describe the influence of mutations on protein synthesis/traits (in both body and sex cells)
a. --b. What is a “silent” mutation?
c. Describe the range of effects/outcomes of mutations, based on both the type of mutation and
the type of cell the mutation occurs in
DuPage Genetics Obj 11
(refer to p. 50, 51)
What is the difference between a point mutation and a frame-shift mutation?
Give an example of both a “positive” and “negative” mutation
Given two strands of DNA (one with a mutation), analyze the effect on the product
5. Describe how this knowledge is used in biological research
a. Why will cancer never really be cured? (Robb video clip )
b. Use the Southern, Northern, Western blots to analyze a biological problem. (Genes turned on and
off)
Is it “ethical” for scientists to cure cancer?
c. Read an article and answer questions about biological research in cancer
Program Cards
Reminder: Get an article that
connects these to cancer research
Key Labs and Investigations
RNAi, methylation, gene regulation
Simulations (video, desktop)
pBlu/pGlo lab
Pipe cleaner demo/lab
Vocabulary
Proteins
Enzymes
Amino Acids
Peptide Bonds
mRNA
Transcription
tRNA
Ribosome
Triplet/Codon
Mutations
Somatic Cells
Sex Cells
Translation
Synthesis
Molecules that directly determine physical/chemical characteristics
Proteins that speed up chemical reactions
Molecules that bond together to make a protein
Bond that occurs between amine group and carboxyl group of two amino acids
Messenger RNA; a single-stranded RNA strand that is complementary to the original DNA
The process of copying the coding portion of a segment of DNA into mRNA form
Transfer RNA; RNA that carries amino acids into ribosomes and bonds with mRNA for protein production.
Cell organelle responsible for translating mRNA into protein
A group of three nucleotides; code for a single amino acid
Changes in the nucleotide sequence of an organism’s DNA, resulting in various outcomes
A non-sex cell
Cells involved in sexual reproduction
The process of creating an amino acid chain from an mRNA strand
Making/producing something
Guiding Questions
Section 4.12 – Permanent Changes in DNA
1. What are some determining factors that affect whether a mutation will be inconsequential, advantageous, inconvenient, or fatal”
(type of cell affected, the stage of development, the recessiveness/dominance of the mutated gene)
2. Why are the insertions or deletions of single base pairs so significant? (They shift all the bases after them, altering the amino acids
coded for)
3. Which types of mutations are passed on to the next generation? (Germ cell mutations)
4. Why are model organisms, like fruitflies and zebrafish, so important in studies of mutations?
Section 4.13 – DNA to RNA: Copying Genes into Messengers
5. Explain why it’s important to have “throw-away” versions of DNA. (The original is not involved, so it is protected/preserved)
6. How is transcription different from DNA replication? (In transcription, only one/a few genes are copied at a time; also, mRNA is
produced, not DNA)
Section 4.14 – The Chicken/Egg Problem
7. What did Butler mean when he said “A hen is only an egg’s way of making another egg”? How does this relate to DNA and
proteins?
Section 5.1 About Proteins
8. Create a chart summarizing the roles and descriptions described on pages 184-185.
Section 5.2 Multiplying Small Effects
9. What role would actin and myosin fall into based on the descriptions on pages 184-185. Defend your choice. (Supporters, b/c it
provides structural support to a cell (like muscle and Acetabularia)
10. Why are actin and myosin good choices for the “Multiplying Small Effects” section? Explain using examples from the section. (Both
proteins have large effects on an organisms ability to function with muscle contraction and cytoplasm streaming.)
Section 5.3 Proteins Are Chains Made from Twenty Amino Acids
Section 5.4 How Orders Translate into Assembled Boxes of Donuts
Section 5.5 How DNA Information Translates into a Working Protein
Section 5.6 From DNA to Protein – A Multistep Process
Section 5.7 Translation
Section 5.8 DNA to RNA to Protein
Section 5.9 Key Discovery
Section 5.10 The Unity of Biology