Molecular Basis of Inheritance

• Understanding the structure of polypeptides is essential.
• Four types of amino acids include nonpolar, polar, acidic, and basic.
• Memorizing specific amino acid names/structures are not needed.
• The four levels of protein structure should be understood: naming, explaining, and relating them.
• Interactions occurring at each level of protein structure should be understood.
• Protein denaturation should be explained, including why it happens and its implications.
• The general structure, types, and roles of nucleic acids should be explained.
• Components of nucleic acids should be compared and contrasted.
• Complementary base-pairing and identification of complementary sequences is crucial.
• The importance of bioinformatics should be understood.

Molecular Basis of Inheritance

• Griffith's experiment's significance should be explained.
• "Transformation" as a term should be understood.
• Avery, McLeod, and McCarty's experiment proved that DNA was the molecule responsible for transformation.
• The Hershey-Chase experiment should be understood.
• A bacteriophage should be explained and its lytic (life) cycle should be understood.
• Franklin, Watson, and Crick elucidated the structure of DNA.
• Chargaff's rules should be understood.
• The structure of DNA should be reviewed: double helix, antiparallel, nucleotide structure, 5' and 3', A, T, C, G, purine, pyrimidine, deoxyribose, hydrogen bonding, AT, GC.
• The semiconservative model of replication should be described.
• The process of DNA replication, including the role of the origins of replication and replication forks should be described.
• The role of DNA polymerases in replication should be explained.
• Using/explaining a diagram illustrating the antiparallel arrangement of the two strands of DNA in the double helix should be understood.
• The difference between the leading and lagging strand should be distinguished.
• How the lagging strand is synthesized, even though DNA polymerase can add nucleotides only to the 3' end should be explained.
• The significance of Okazaki fragments should be described.
• The roles of DNA ligase, primer, primase, helicase, topoisomerase, and single-strand binding proteins should be explained.
• Why continuous synthesis of both DNA strands is not possible should be explained.
• The roles of DNA proofreading as a DNA repair mechanism should be explained.
• The structure and function of telomeres and how telomerase may play a role in cancer should be described.
• How DNA is "packed" should be understood.
• Chromatin, histones, and nucleosomes should be known and diagrams showing these features should be recognized.

Gene Expression

• How information flows from gene to protein should be briefly explained.
• Transcription and translation should be distinguished.
• The role of mRNA and ribosomes should be described.
• Where transcription and translation occur in bacteria and in eukaryotes should be compared.
• How RNA polymerase recognizes where transcription should begin should be explained.
• The role of the promoter, the terminator, and the transcription unit should be described.
• What start point and upstream refers to should be known.
• The role of transcription factors should be known.
• Predict the sequence of RNA transcribed from a known sequence of DNA.
• The general process of transcription, including the three major steps of initiation, elongation, and termination should be explained.
• What the template and coding strands are should be known.
• What pre-mRNA or primary transcript is should be known.
• How RNA is modified after transcription in eukaryotic cells should be explained.
• What the 5' cap and polyA tail are should be known.
• The process of RNA splicing should be described, including introns and exons.
• The functional and evolutionary significance of introns should be described.
• Why, due to alternative RNA splicing, the number of different protein products an organism can produce may be much greater than its number of genes should be explained.