Exam 5 Study Guide

Be able to

Identify the contributions of: Griffiths; Avery, McCarty and Macleod; Chargaff; Watson and Crick; Franklin and Wilkins; Meselson and Stahl, Hershey and Chase

Identify the bases found in nucleic acids, and their structures

Explain the semiconservative model for DNA synthesis

Define and give the functions of: origin of replication; replication fork; DNA-dependent DNA polymerase; leading strand; lagging strand; primase; ligase; Okazaki fragments; primer; helicase; single-strand binding protein

Explain how the proofreading system works to repair damage or mismatched bases:

Be able to draw and label a diagram explaining how excision repair works, showing the function of the most important enzymes.

Define telomerase, and tell what its function is and how it works.

Explain Beadle and Tatum's experiment, and explain the one gene, one enzyme hypothesis

Explain how the one-gene, one-enzyme hypothesis has been modified since the 1930's.

Define transcription and translation

Describe how the products of transcription are different in eukaryotes and prokaryotes

Explain how the nucleotide code functions to specify amino acids

Use a table of codons to translate a mRNA molecule into a protein

Use a table of codons to predict an mRNA sequence from a primary protein sequence

Explain the significance of the codons AUG, UGA, UAA, and UAG

Explain the importance of the redundant nature of the genetic code

Explain the functions of: RNA polymerase, promoter, operator, terminator, TATA box, template strand

Explain the nature and function of the GTP cap and the poly-A tail in eukaryotic mRNA

Define intron and exon

Explain the function of a spliceosome

Give examples of how alternative RNA splicing can result in different proteins being encoded by the same gene

Define domain and explain how exons and domains may be related

Explain the functions of tRNA, amino acids, and aminoacyl-tRNA synthase in preparing for protein synthesis

Draw diagrams showing how the ribosome reads mRNA and catalyzes the formation of the peptide chain

Explain the significance of signal peptides (leader sequences) in routing proteins

Identify and describe point mutations, insertion, deletion, and frameshift mutations. Be able to give an example of each.

Define and identify examples of transduction, transformation, and conjugation in bacteria

Define a transposon, draw a diagram of a simple transposon, explain what they do, and give an example of a genetic event regulated by transposons

Use the lac operon control system as a model for explaining gene regulation