Molecular Biology Basics

• Transformation is the process where an organism acquires exogenous DNA.
• A bacteriophage is a virus that infects bacteria.
• Base pairing refers to the near-perfect fit between A-T and G-C nucleotides.
• Replication is the process of duplicating DNA.
• DNA polymerase is the enzyme responsible for DNA replication.
• Telomeres are the DNA at the tips of chromosomes.
• mRNA is a single-stranded RNA carrying genetic information from DNA to the cytoplasm.
• rRNA is a type of RNA responsible for protein synthesis.
• RNA is a molecule which carries genetic information.
• tRNA helps build proteins by connecting mRNA to amino acids.
• Transcription is the process in which RNA is made.
• RNA polymerase is the enzyme required for transcription.
• Promoters are what the enzyme binds to.
• Introns are portions cut out and discarded in pre-mRNA.
• Exons are the remaining pieces in mRNA after introns are removed.
• Proteins are made by joining amino acids into polypeptide chains.
• The genetic code is like a language with only 4 letters.
• A codon is each three-letter "word" in the genetic code.
• Translation is the decoding of an mRNA message into a protein.
• An anticodon are three unpaired bases found on each tRNA molecule.

Mutations

• A carcinogen is a substance that can cause cancer.
• Chromosomal mutations are large-scale mutations involving deletion, duplication, and inversion.
• Nucleotide mutations are genetic mutations where a single nucleotide base is changed, the mutations include substitution, deletion, and insertion.
• Transformation was discovered when Griffith injected mice with disease-causing bacteria

DNA Structure

• DNA has a double helix shape, with two nucleotide strands twisted around each other.
• DNA has base pairs, hydrogen bonds, and antiparallel strands.
• Chargaff's rule states that in DNA, the amount of adenine equals thymine, and guanine equals cytosine, demonstrating complementary base pairing.

DNA Replication

• During DNA replication, the cell copies its DNA molecule, creating two identical double helixes.
• The original strands separate and serve as templates.
• New complementary strands are built, resulting in two DNA molecules, each with one original and one new strand.

RNA Types

• The three types of RNA are mRNA, tRNA, and rRNA.

Transcription

• Transcription is the process of copying a gene's DNA sequence into an RNA copy.

Translation

• Translation is the process of making proteins from mRNA.

Protein Synthesis

• The genetic code from DNA is changed into an mRNA molecule.
• The mRNA travels to ribosomes, where it is translated into a chain of amino acids.
• This chain eventually becomes a functional protein.