The Central Dogma
By the end of the week, I will be able to describe how genes allow for gene expression by reading about the Central Dogma, drawing a diagram and writing a paragraph to go with my analysis. Reference: The Central Dogma>
A. What is the Central Dogma?
I learned that the Central Dogma is an explanation of how DNA and RNA work to make ourselves and protein. Genes have all the information to make proteins. The journey of genes to make proteins has two important steps, transcription and translation,they together are known as gene expression. The process of transcription is when all the information in DNA is transferred to a similar molecule called RNA which is called a messenger because it carries the information from the DNA out to the nucleus. Translation is the second,it is changing from a gene to a protein.The Central Dogma is basically the path and information from DNA to RNA to proteins.
Reference: The Central Dogma> |
B. What is DNA?
Click here and link to 'What is DNA?' and 'Build a DNA Molecule'>
After watching the tutorials I learned that DNA is the instructions that tell a cell what to do on the body for example an ear cell, the DNA tells it to hear.It is a molecule that has detailed information of what to do.The dna strand is made out of letters which tell them what to do, for example to hear.The letters make sentences which are genes, and these make the proteins. |
C. What is a gene?
Genes are the instructions for our bodies for building up all the proteins.A DNA strand has a lot of genes in it which are needed to tell the molecule and give instructions on how to make proteins for our bodies.If the gene in a cell is normal then it is ok, the protein will work good.But if the instructions in the gene are change, a disorder will take place and mutation will appear.
|
D. Transcription and Translation
Click here and link to 'Transcribe and Translate a Gene'>
On this tutorial I learned that transcription is when DNA is copied into a messenger RNA A very similar molecule to DNA, both have four nucletoide bases, the only difference is that in RNA,the base Uracil (U) is replaced to base Thyme (T). In other words,letter U replaces to letter T.On the other hand,we have translation which is when the Ribosome, a "protein making" reads the RNA and translates it to an amino acid gene sequence of the protein. |
E. What is a protein?
Click here and link to 'What is a protein?'>
Proteins are what make everything function, every cell has a lot of different proteins. An example of protein in our body is our gene expressions and hair, receptor proteins. The function of receptor proteins are to take up the signal and pass it to the other cell. Every single protein has a different role and function in our bodies. |
F. An Example of Gene Expression
Click here and link to 'What make a firefly glow?'>
An example of gene expression is how fireflies glow to send signals and have a way to communicate.They have their own patterns.Cells in the fireflies tails produce an enzyme which drives a chemical reaction to generate light.Then,the DNA is copied to a very similar molecule RNA polymerase which is going to transcribe all the information from the luc RNA.After that the luc RNA finds its way to the cytoplasm and then is recognized by the protein making (Ribosome) then the ribosome translates the information to a string of amino acids.They also glow to prevent from predators. |