Part 1 – DNA and the Journey to a Protein – (32 points)
In chapter 9 you learned about genes and heredity. In this chapter, you have studied DNA and the role it plays in the creation of proteins needed for cell function. This happens at the cellular level in a complex series of events. Please fill in the blanks below to summarize the process. Write your answers as a list from 1- 32. You will find a word bank at the end to help. All words are there, but some may be used more than once, and some may not be used.
In 1953 1. were credited with the discovery of the structure of DNA. It consists of long chains of chemical units called 2. , each of which is made of three parts: 3. , 4. and 5. .
The shape of the DNA molecule is known as a 6. , the ‘rungs’ of which are arranged as follows: cytosine pairs with 7. while thiamine pairs with 8. . It is the sequence of these 9. that determine the code of DNA.
DNA does not build a protein directly but undergoes the process of 10. to create a 11. molecule. The three key parts to this process are 12. , elongation and termination. A key enzyme that guides this process is 13. . Following this the next process, 14. takes place. During this process 15. are removed, and 16. are spliced together. The final product, 17. is now ready to leave the 18.
The next key process is 19. , where the genetic code is converted from nucleic acid language to protein language. This process converts the information stored in 20. to a 21. . There are a number of ‘players’ involved in this process. First the 22. carrying its amino acid cargo attaches to the mRNA at the small 23. subunit and the process begins. The five stages of this process go in this order: initiation, 24. , and termination. During the process, the 25. picks up their 26. . These are carried to the 27. where the mRNA 28. binds to the tRNA. This continues and each new 29. is attached to the growing 30. chain by a 31. bond.
Now that the protein has been created it needs to be sent to other locations to function. Proteins are critical to our functioning in many ways. One key importance is that these are the processes whereby genes control the structures and activities of cells, or thinking about what we learned in chapter 9, it is the way that genotype produces 32. .