Week 0 - Review and Basic Terminology

DNA sequences that define where transcription of a gene by RNA polymerase begins.

Instead of memorizing that you build 5’ -> 3’ and read 3’ -> 5’ it’s best to understand why this is! So first, if we build 5’ -> 3’ we MUST be reading (reading just means going along it) the template 3’ -> 5’. Why? Because DNA strands are anti parallel, which means they are being built in opposite directions, so reading and building must be opposite. Ok so now we know reading is opposite of building. But why the heck do we build 5’ -> 3’ in the first place? Well, first let’s think of a nucleotide. The 5’ carbon has the phosphate (P) groups. And the 3’ carbon has an OH group. When the DNA elongates (builds) the 3’ OH attacks an incoming 5’ P to connect the strand to an incoming nucleotide. So the 3 is connecting to the 5, which means the top will have the 5’ and the bottom the 3’. So this is called building 5’ -> 3’. And since RNA has the same P and OH placement (besides the 2’ carbon) it is also built 5’ -> 3’.

Start codon is a site where the protein translation initiates.

The process of making an RNA copy of a gene's DNA sequence. This copy, called messenger RNA (mRNA), carries the gene's protein information encoded in DNA.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) creates proteins. The mRNA is a copy of DNA that contains genetic information that tells the cell how to link amino acids together to form proteins. The translation process occurs in three phases: Initiation Elongation Termination.

The process of altering an organism's DNA by cutting it and inserting a gene, possibly from another organism

Introns are noncoding sections of an RNA transcript, or the DNA encoding it, that are spliced out before the RNA molecule is translated into a protein. The sections of DNA (or RNA) that code for proteins are called exons.

A unit of hereditary and sequence of DNA.

the actual location of the gene on a region of a chromosome.