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Student Exploration RNA and Protein Synthesis Voca

Explore how cells use DNA to make proteins through transcription. RNA polymerase helps form mRNA from DNA, following base-pairing rules to guide protein synthesis.

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    S t u d e n t Exploration: RNA and Protein Synthesis Vocabulary: amino acid, anticodon, codon, gene, messenger RNA, nucleotide, ribosome, RNA, RNA polymerase, transcription, transfer RNA, translation Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.] 1. Suppose you want to design and build a house. Haw would you communicate your design plans with the construction crew that would work on the house? I would show my plan and tell the workers how to do it 2. Cells build large, complicated molecules, such as proteins. What do you think cells use as their "design plans' for proteins? The DNA is the cell's design plans for proteins Gizmo Warm-up Just as a construction crew uses blueprints to build a house, a cell uses DNA as plans far building proteins. In addition to DNA, another nucleic acid, called RNA. is involved in making proteins. In the RNA ond Protein Synthesis Gizmo, you will use both DNA and RNA to construct a protein out of amino acids. 1. DNA is composed of the bases adenine (A), cytosine (Q, guanine (G). and thymine (T). RNA is composed of adenine, cytosine, guanine, and uracil (U). Look at the SIMULATION pane. Is the displayed segment a part of a DNA or RNA molecule? How da you know? A dna molecule, because it is a double helix. 2. RNA polymerase is a type of enzyme. Enzymes help chemical reactions occur quickly. Click the Release enzyme button, and describe what happens. The enzymes split the hydrogen bonds down the middle. Activity A: Transcription Get the Gizmo ready : • if necessary, click Release enzyme. ■ KI Introduction: The first stage of building a pratein involves a process known as transcription. In transcription, a segment of DNA serves as a template to produce a complementary strand of RNA. This complementary strand is called messenger RNA, or mRNA. Guiding Question: What occurs during transcription? 1. Experiment: Like DNA, RNA follows base-pairing rules. Experiment to find which RNA nucleotide on the right side of the Gizmo will successfully pair with the thymine at the top of the template strand of DNA. (NOTE: The DNA on the right side is the template strand.)

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    Which RNA base bonded with the thymine? Adenine 2. Experiment: The next three bases on the DNA template strand are adenine, cytosine, and guanine. Use the Gizmo to answer the following questions: A. Which RNA base bonds with adenine? Uracil B. Which RNA base bonds with cytosine? Guanine C. Which RNA base bonds with guanine? Cytosine 3. Observe: In molecules of RNA, uracil takes the place of the DNA base Thymine 4. Build: Continue building the strand of mRNA until you have used all of the RNA nucleotides. What is the nucleotide sequence of the mRNA strand you built? UACGACUGG 5. Apply: Suppose a template strand of DNA had the following sequence: T A C G G A T A A C T A C C G G G T A T T C A A What would be the complementary strand of mRNA? AUG CCU AUU GAU GGC CCA UAA GUU Predict: How would a change to the sequence of nucleotides in a DNA segment affect the mRNA transcribed from the DNA? A change to the sequence of the nucleotides in a DNA segment affects the mRNA because it would also change to reflect the change of the DNA.

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