Sa Jillian Aspan Marbin
Name _____________________________________________
-
Nucleic Acids & Transcription Pre-Class Worksheet
Fill out this worksheet as you complete your pre-class assignments (Sections Ch. 4 Intro; 4.1; 4.2; 4.3; Gel Electrophoresis
video; Southern Blots video). Bring your completed worksheet to class to use as a reference for in-class activities.
After completing your pre-class assignments, you should be able to:
• Discuss the central dogma of molecular biology.
• Describe the structure and organization of DNA.
• Compare and contrast the structures of DNA and RNA.
• Provide the complementary sequences of a given sequence of DNA.
• Describe how gel electrophoresis separates nucleic acid fragments based on size.
• Describe how Southern blots allow specific genes or DNA sequences to be visualized on a gel.
• Label the promoter, transcription start site, and terminator on a gene model.
• Define the role of promoters and terminators in the transcription of eukaryotic and prokaryotic genes.
1. Consider two enzymes (proteins) involved in glycolysis: PFK and hexokinase. How does the cell know how to make
these two proteins? Try to relate your answer to the central dogma of molecular biology.
the cells know how to information
make these 2 proteins through the flow of genetic as all living
Nucleic acid crucial
things ( virus) depend
+ on
large macromolecules called nucleic acids to function. play a
genetic information
function in the expression & maintence of . The 2
enzymes involved with
glycolysis
genetic information to make
use the proteins ,
2. Refer to Figures 4.8 and 4.9 to help you answer the following questions
about the structure of DNA. sugarphosphaa
~
a. On the diagram to the right, label the sugar-phosphate backbones.
cytosine-
b. If the base labeled “1” is cytosine, what are the other bases labeled guanine
/
2, 3, and 4? (Hint: what does the relative size of the bases tell you?) adenine thymine
1. cytosine-2. guanine
3 .
adenine
-
4 .
thymine majore
c. How many hydrogen bonds do bases 1 and 2 form? minor
groove
base hydrogen bonds
1/2 forms 3
d. How many hydrogen bonds do bases 3 and 4 form?
base 3/4 form 3 hydrogen bonds
3. The sequence below represents one strand of a double-stranded DNA molecule. Write in the sequence of the
missing strand of this double-stranded molecule. Be sure to label the 5’ and 3’ ends of the sequence you write!
5’ – TATGGTATGCCATCG – 3’
3 -
ATACCATACGGTAGC -S
4. DNA and RNA are both types of nucleic acid molecules. How are these molecules similar? How are they different?
Both of them are similar in way where the flow a of genetic information from DNA &
RNA to protein
applies to both prokaryotic & eukaryotic
Both different & Functional differences ; RNA
are
through structural is
single-stranded where DNA is double-stranded DNA
& RNA has fracil
.
has information
thymine . DNA maintains the protein genetic whereas RNA uses into to enable the cell to synthesizethe particler
protein.
5. The diagram below shows RNA polymerase in the elongation phase of transcription. On the diagram, label the RNA,
the DNA template strand, and the DNA nontemplate strand. For all RNA and DNA strands label the 5’ and 3’ ends.
DNA strand
Dunintemplate
&
s 3
3
3 5
~
DNA
nontemplate
a
5'
RNA strand
RNA polymerase reads the DNA template strand in the 2
3’ to 5’ / 5’ to 3’ direction. (circle one)
RNA polymerase synthesizes RNA in the 3’ to 5’ /-
5’ to 3’ direction. (circle one)
6. The sequence below represents a portion of the template strand of a gene being transcribed by RNA polymerase.
Draw an arrow to show the direction in which RNA polymerase is reading this sequence. Write the sequence of the
RNA molecule transcribed from this sequence and be sure to label its 5’ and 3’ ends.
V-A
5’ – TATGGTATGCCATCG – 3’ CG
3 -
HVACCAVACGGVAGC
-
5
7. The diagram below represents a simple model of a gene. The promoter and terminator are labeled for you. Use this
diagram to answer the following questions.
DNA transcribed to RNA
a. What is the function of the terminator?
it is the start-up of transcription
b. What binds to the promoter in prokaryotic cells?
In eukaryotic cells?
RNA polymerase
5' Sz
Prokaryotic
:
Erkaryotic general transcription
:
factors
c. What is the function of the promoter?
it allows transcription to stop and relocate
the transcript.
d. What portion of this DNA is actually transcribed into RNA? Draw an arrow above the model to represent the
region that is transcribed and the direction in which RNA polymerase moves along the DNA.
8. The diagram at right shows the results of a gel electrophoresis experiment.
Each dark band represents a collection of DNA molecules.
a. How many different sized pieces of DNA are in each lane?
lane 1 2 :
lane 2 : 2
lane 3 : 3
b. Which lane contains the largest fragment of DNA?
lane
c. Which lane contains the smallest fragment of DNA?
lane 3
