GED Science : Proteins and Translation
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Example Question #1 : Proteins And Translation
Which of the following actions is performed by proteins?
Serving as biological catalysts
Providing energy for the body
Creating the structure of the cellular membrane
Storing genetic information
Serving as biological catalysts
Proteins have a variety of functions in the body, one of which is acting as biological catalysts. These specialized proteins are called enzymes and are used to facilitate all types of chemical reactions in organisms.
Storing genetic information is accomplished by nucleic acids, and energy is provided by carbohydrates. Lipids (or phospholipids to be specific) help create the plasma membrane structure.
Example Question #2 : Proteins And Translation
Which of the following RNA molecules brings amino acids to the ribosomal complex during translation?
aRNA
rRNA
mRNA
tRNA
tRNA
The process of translation involves a variety of RNA molecules, all with specific roles necessary in order to create the functional protein. mRNA (messenger RNA) is the product of DNA transcription and provides the template that the ribosome will read. rRNA (ribosomal RNA) helps create the functional ribosomal complex. tRNA (transfer RNA) brings individual amino acids to the ribosome in order to lengthen the growing polypeptide chain.
Example Question #3 : Proteins And Translation
What is true about the genetic code?
There are only 20 functional codons, due to the 20 amino acids found in organisms
Multiple codons can code for the same amino acid
One codon can code for multiple amino acids
Codons are composed of 4 nucleotide segments
Multiple codons can code for the same amino acid
The genetic code is defined as being both unambiguous and degenerative. The term degenerative means that an amino acid can have multiple codons that code for it. For example, both UCC and UCG code for the amino acid serine. The term unambiguous means that a codon will always code for only one amino acid. For example, UCC will only ever code for serine; it cannot generate any other amino acid.
Each codon has three nitrogenous base units. Since there are four possible bases, there are 64 3-base combinations (64 possible codons). The degenerative nature of the code allow each and every combination to code for an amino acid.
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