Transcription
Unwinding/unzipping
- First, a gene will be identified from the many genes on a DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) strand.
2. The gene will unwind in a specific area so that RNA (Ribonucleic acid) polymerase can do its complementary base pairing
Complementary base pairing
- RNA polymerase (the heart) will come in and complementary base pair the RNA nucleotides to the DNA bases
(Ex. A=U / T=A / C=G / G=C )
4. RNA will continue this process all the way down the gene until it reaches a stop codon/end of the gene.
(Codon: three-letter code)
Separation
- When it has reached the stop codon, the RNA polymerase will detach from the DNA
- Then the mRNA (messenger Ribonucleic acid) will then leave the nucleus and go over to the rRNA to attach to the ribosome
Translation
Initiation :
- The mRNA binds to the ribosome/rRNA (Ribosomal ribonucleic acid), then the 2 subunits will attach and starts to read the codons on the mRNA
Elongation
- The tRNA (Transfer ribonucleic acid) will then bring over the corresponding anticodon, as well as an amino acid, to the ribosome and into the P site and the A site of the ribosome. Then it will attach to the mRNA with the help of h-bonds
(Antcodon: complimentary three-letter code to the Codon)
3. Once attached, the amino acids at the top will undergo dehydration synthesis and bind together with a peptide bond.
4. Then the rRNA will shift over so that the tRNA in the P site will be released and the tRNA in the A site will now move over into the P site. Once that is completed, a new tRNA will be brought over and placed in the now-empty, A site.
5. The new amino acid brought over from the new tRNA will undergo the same dehydration process that the other amino acids went through and will eventually create a chain of amino acids, creating the primary structure of a protein,
Termination
6. This process will continue until the ribosome reads a stop codon, and then the ribosome will detach and be stored for later translation or will degrade.
- In what ways did your models accurately reflect the process?
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- In all the pictures, The models are accurate in the sense that they take the general process of the sequence and visually display what is happening in an understandable way. Each individual piece/enzyme is visible and can be seen doing its job in a very clear manner.
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- In what ways did your model misrepresent the process?
- In the first picture, some of the sugar bases are flipped the opposite way and the way our bases and phosphates connect to the sugar is a little misplaced as well.
- In the second picture and third pictures, again, our bases and phosphate groups aren’t attached properly and at the top of the unzipping, one of our backbone bonds isn’t there.
- In the fourth picture, again our bases and phosphate connection is wrong.
- In all of the translation pictures, we wrote the message for the RNA backward, so all the letters are going from right to left instead of left to right, which made our codon and anticodon matching a little confusing, however, the pairs are still there, you just have to read on backward.
- In the final photo, the amino acid chain is on the wrong side of the tRNA
- what changes could be made to the modeling activities to make them better represent the actual process?
- Some of the sugars need to be flipped right side up and our bases and phosphate groups need to be connected by the corners and not the full sides because the connection is made through the carbons at the “points.” The “sides” are just the bonds holding the atoms together.
- When copying the DNA message to our RNA, we need to write it in the proper order, left to right, so that the ribosome could read it the right way.
- In the final photo, the amino acid chain should be on the other side of the tRNA because the ribosome reads from left to right, not right to left.
- Models are commonly used to communicate scientific concepts to non-scientific audiences. Do you think this is an effective way to educate the public about science? Explain why or why not.
- I believe models are always a good way to educate the public. I am, and many others are, visual and kinesthetic learners. Meaning that we learn better through visuals and hands-on learning. Biology is a very complicated subject and by using models and visuals, it’s simplified to the public eye and is easier to understand and grasp the concept.
Cites:
-Classroom notebook
-Class powerpoints
-Cognito. “How Are Proteins Made? – Transcription and Translation Explained #66.” YouTube, 15 Mar. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubdoUqmNF98&ab_channel=Cognito. Accessed 25 Oct. 2022.