Transcription and Translation
Pre-Lab Questions
1. What is a gene? Describe the function, structure, and location within the cell.
A gene is a small unit of genetic information that has the ability to code proteins. Genes
can be found in the nucleus of eukaryotes and in the cytoplasm of prokaryotes. Their
function is to give the information to determine appearance, behavior, and activity of the
cell. A gene’s structure can be broken down into a promoter, coding region, and
terminator. Genes in eukaryotes also contain exons, which are coding regions, and
introns, which are noncoding regions.
2. What are the three stop codons? What is the start codon?
Stop codons: UAA, UAG, UGA
Start codon: AUG
3. Compare and contrast bacterial and eukaryotic ribosomes.
Eukaryotic ribosomes contain a larger subunit of 60s and a smaller subunit
of 40s that come together to make an 80s particle. Bacterial ribosomes
contain a larger subunit of 50s and a smaller subunit of 30s that comes
together to make a 70s particle. This shows eukaryotic ribosomes are
larger than bacterial ribosomes.
Pre-Lab Questions
1. What is a gene? Describe the function, structure, and location within the cell.
A gene is a small unit of genetic information that has the ability to code proteins. Genes
can be found in the nucleus of eukaryotes and in the cytoplasm of prokaryotes. Their
function is to give the information to determine appearance, behavior, and activity of the
cell. A gene’s structure can be broken down into a promoter, coding region, and
terminator. Genes in eukaryotes also contain exons, which are coding regions, and
introns, which are noncoding regions.
2. What are the three stop codons? What is the start codon?
Stop codons: UAA, UAG, UGA
Start codon: AUG
3. Compare and contrast bacterial and eukaryotic ribosomes.
Eukaryotic ribosomes contain a larger subunit of 60s and a smaller subunit
of 40s that come together to make an 80s particle. Bacterial ribosomes
contain a larger subunit of 50s and a smaller subunit of 30s that comes
together to make a 70s particle. This shows eukaryotic ribosomes are
larger than bacterial ribosomes.
