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Before a cell can divide, the DNA in the nucleus of the cell must be duplicated. Since the DNA molecule consists of two complimentary stands, if those two strands separate and the right conditions are present, two new stands that are the compliments of the originals will be produced. Each new DNA molecule will consist of one old stand, and a new complimentary strand. The gray strands in the figure to the right are new strands in the process of being assembled.
DNA Replication
Since the DNA molecule is very large, there must be a way to copy it faster than just unwinding from one end to the other! This happens when the DNA molecule separates at many sites, forming thousands of replication bubbles. This allows parts of the DNA message to be replicated simultaneously in many locations.
DNA polymerase adds new nucleotides , while DNA ligase joints the DNA segments together.
As you will note when you read the textbook (if you havent already!) the process of DNA replication involves a number of enzymes and proteins, and it a bit more complicated than seen in the previous slide. The important idea is that an exact duplication of the DNA message is required, so that each new cell in the body has the same set of genetic instructions as the cells that preceded it. This also insures that every new generation of individuals has the same genetic information as his/her parents.
DNA carries information that can be used to construct the proteins which form structures and regulate the bodys activities. Protein synthesis involves two processes: transcription and translation. In transcription the DNA message is converted into an RNA molecule. In translation the RNA message is used to assemble amino acids into a protein chain.
As a result of the Human Genome Project, the one gene-one polypeptide hypothesis has had to be changed again! We now know that a gene can produce more than one polypeptide depending upon how the information in the gene is read. More about this later!
The message in the DNA is transcribed into an RNA molecule, and then translated into a polypeptide
If you said 20 types of tRNA you are wrong! There must be a different tRNA molecule for each of the possible triplets. This means 64 anticodons. The anticodons of the tRNAs each have a complimentary codon in the mRNA. For example the codon AUG would be the compliment of the anticodon UAC.
Ribosomes have binding sites for both tRNA and mRNA molecules.