Chapter 12 Vocabulary

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transformation

Back 1

transformation is the genetic alteration of a cell resulting from the direct incorporation of exogenous genetic material from its surroundings through the cell membrane(s).

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bacteriophage

Back 2

A bacteriophage is a type of virus that attacks only bacteria

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nucleotide

Back 3

A nucleotide is one of the structural components, or building blocks, of DNA and RNA

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base pairing

Back 4

hebase pairs are adenine-thymine and guanine-cytosine in DNA, and adenine-uracil and guanine-cytosine in RNA or in hybrid DNA-RNA pairing.

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chromatin

Back 5

the material of which the chromosomes of organisms other than bacteria (i.e., eukaryotes) are composed. It consists of protein, RNA, and DNA.

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histone

Back 6

histones are highly alkaline proteins found in eukaryotic cell nuclei that package and order the DNA into structural units called nucleosomes

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replication

Back 7

Replication in biology is the process of duplicating or producing an exact copy of the DNA involving many enzymes that split down the mother cell and create 'daughter' copies.Replication is the primary and the most significant aspect of cell division.

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dna polymerase

Back 8

DNA polymerase (DNAP) is a type of enzyme that is responsible for forming new copies of DNA, in the form of nucleic acid molecules.

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gene

Back 9

The fundamental, physical, and functional unit of heredity.

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messenger rna

Back 10

An RNA molecule transcribed from the DNA of a gene, and from which a protein is translated by the action of ribosomes.

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ribosomal rna

Back 11

, a molecular component of a ribosome, the cell's essential protein factory. Strictly speaking, ribosomal RNA (rRNA) does not make proteins. It makes polypeptides (assemblies of amino acids) that go to make up proteins.

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transfer rna

Back 12

. Transfer RNA. Small RNA molecules that carry amino acids to the ribosome for polymerization into a polypeptide.

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transcription

Back 13

Transcription is the process by which the information in a strand of DNA is copied into a new molecule of messenger RNA (mRNA)

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rna polymerase

Back 14

An enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of an RNA strand from a DNA template. The enzyme that polymerizes RNA by using DNA as a template. It can also act as a primase initiating DNA replication. (Also known as transcriptase or RNAtranscriptase

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promoter

Back 15

, a promoter is a region of DNA that initiates transcription of a particular gene

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intron

Back 16

A segment of a gene situated between exons that does not function in coding for protein synthesis. After transcription of a gene to messenger RNA, the transcriptions of intronsare removed, and the exons are spliced together by enzymes before translation and assembly of amino acids into proteins. Compare exon.

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exon

Back 17

An exon is any part of a gene that will encode a part of the final mature RNA produced by that gene after introns have been removed by RNA splicing.

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codon

Back 18

A codon is a sequence of three DNA or RNA nucleotides that corresponds with a specific amino acid or stop signal during protein synthesis.

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translation

Back 19

translation is the process in which cellular ribosomes create proteins.

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anticodon

Back 20

A sequence of three adjacent nucleotides in transfer RNA that binds to a corresponding codon in messenger RNA and designates a specific amino acid during protein synthesis.