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Genetics

Protein synthesis: transcription and translation

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1

Overview

How the base order sets the amino acid order and the protein's shape, then transcription by RNA polymerase, mRNA, codons, tRNA and the ribosome joining a polypeptide.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What decides the order of amino acids in a protein?

Key term

Explain how a change in the order of bases can stop an enzyme working.

Key term

Why do two different genes produce two proteins with different jobs?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What decides the order of amino acids in a protein?

    Model answer

    The order of bases in the section of DNA that codes for that protein decides it.

  2. 2

    What happens to a chain of amino acids once it has been assembled?

    Model answer

    It folds up into a particular three-dimensional shape.

  3. 3

    Explain why an enzyme has an active site that fits only one substrate.

    Model answer

    Its amino acid order makes it fold into a specific shape, which gives the active site its precise form.

  4. 4

    Explain how a change in the order of bases can stop an enzyme working.

    Model answer

    A different amino acid order makes the protein fold differently, so the active site no longer fits the substrate.

  5. 5

    Why do two different genes produce two proteins with different jobs?

    Model answer

    The genes have different base orders, so they build different amino acid sequences that fold into different shapes.

  6. 6

    State the link between the shape of a protein and what it does.

    Model answer

    A protein's function depends on its shape, so a protein that folds wrongly cannot do its job.

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