1. Complementary base pairs- The nucleotides that fit together to form the DNA double helix, adenine with thymine and cytosine with guanine .
Here is a visual, if the original strand of DNA has the following bases: A T C G A T T C G A T (ORIGINAL OR TEMPLATE)Then the complimentary bases would be: T A G C T A A G C T A (COMPLIMENT TO THE ORIGINAL)
2. Replication- the process of copying the original strand of DNA to form a new, IDENTICAL, strand of DNA so that when the cell divides the daughter cells have the same exact genetic information as the parent cell.
3. Mutation- any change in someone’s strand of DNA, it could be a few letters (bases) or just one base.
4. Protein synthesis- using a cells DNA to code for and then make a specific protein needed by the cell, three types of RNA are needed to do this.
5. Trait- a physical characteristic or feature of a person (ex; brown hair, tall, diabetic, blue eyes)
6. Genes- the segments of a person’s DNA that code for a certain trait.
7. Transcription- when mRNA copies a segment of DNA in order to take the message out of the nucleus and to a ribosome. It must be written in the RNA’s language which uses Uracil in place of thymine for a nitrogen base. The uracil still pairs up with Adenine.
8. mRNA- messenger RNA is the RNA responsible for sneaking into the nucleus of a cell and copying off a certain piece of DNA and then carrying that piece of the code out to a ribosome.
9. Codon- three letters of a mRNA strand that determine which amino acid is to be made by a ribosome.
10. Translation- when the code made by the mRNA gets turned into an amino acid in a ribosome.
11. rRNA- is ribosomal RNA, it’s what makes up the ribosome and turns a mRNA codon strand into an amino acid strand.
12. tRNA- is the type of RNA that puts all of the amino acids in the correct order to form the proper protein. It has a complimentary RNA code for the newly produced amino acid to hook on to.
13. Peptide bond- it’s what connects one amino acid to another to make a complete protein. a long chain of these amino acids can be refered to as either a protein or a polypeptide.
14. Hydrogen bond- weak bond that holds nitrogen bases (A with T or C with G) together.
15. Anti-codon- located at the bottom of the tRNA , it has the opposite nitrogen bases of the codon and its purpose is to make sure that the amino acids are returned to the proper place on the mRNA strand being translated at the ribosome! This insures that the codons are put in the correct order, regardless of who gets back to the ribosome first.
Use these links to help you visualize what's going on:
DNA replication
http://www.johnkyrk.com/DNAreplication.html
proteins synthesis (RNA and transcription/ translation tutorial)
http://www.johnkyrk.com/er.html
BIG PICTURE STUFF: DNA and heredity
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/
