CPB6 From Nucleotides to Proteins Describe the key structural features of nucleotides

Nucleotides are made up of a nitrogenous base, sugar and a phosphate DNA --transcription--> RNA --translation--> Protein Phosphate interacts with the 5' of ribose and 3' of Purines: Adenine (A) 2 hydrogen bonds and Guanine (G) 3 hydrogen bonds Pyrimidines: Thymine (T) and Cytosine (C) RNA can be used in the regulation of gene expression. RNA= single stranded, ribose sugar, and thymine replaced by uracil

Explain the functions of nucleotides

Structural role as precursors in DNA and RNA Intermediates in biosynthesis (UDP-glucose, used to make glycogen) Sources of chemical energy to drive biochemical reactions (ATP, GTP) Coenzymes components (NAD, FAD, CoA) Metabolic regulators/second messengers (cAMP)

Describe the biosynthetic pathway of nucleotides

Purines - derive from amino acids (Aspartate, glycine, glutamine) de novo biosynthesis Salvage

Pyrimidines - derive from amino acids (Aspartic acid) de novo synthesis

Describe the degradation of nucleotides

Pyrimidines (single ring) Bases broken down to simple carbon skeletons: o (b-alanine or b-aminoisobutyrate) and degraded

Purines (two rings) Bases are either reused (salvage) or degraded o Purine bases Xanthine Uric acid Excretion

Describe the key structural features of DNA Explain DNA replication

Occurs in nucleus, DNA needs to be unwound RNA primer is synthesized (primase) DNA binding and replication occurs (DNA polymerase) Proof reading mistakes (3' - 5', exonuclease activity of DNA polymerase subunit) o DNA synthesis can only take place in 5' - 3' direction o Continuous (leading) and discontinous (lagging) strands occur o Okazaki fragments form and DNA gyrase fills these Each parent strand is a template for synthesis of a new strand.

Explain transcription and translation Transcription

Initiation - RNA polymerase binds to DNA and unwinds a 17-18 bp segement of promoter. Elongation - RNA polymerase moves along template synthesizing RNA until it reaches the terminator region. Termination - Transcribed terminator seq causes RNA polymerase to pause and disassociate

Translation Ribosome reads the mRNA in a 5' to 3' direction (coordinates translation) and mRNA
is translated to amino acids. Protein grows from N-terminus to C-terminus Aminoacyl-tRNAs coupled to amino acids via energy rich bonds, bringing amino acids to ribosome Small and large ribosome subunits assemble around the mRNA (small, tRNA, large) The first initiator tRNA (AUG or Methionine) binds to the ribosome. Aminoacyl-tRNA binds to the ribosome Enzyme peptidyltransferase reaction: forms bond between the previous and incoming amino acids, forming a peptide chain. Continues 3 bases at a time until a end codon is reached.