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Exercise ___
Protein Synthesis and the Genetic Code

The Sequence below comes from the alpha-2 globin of the human hemoglobin gene cluster found in
chromosome 16. The globin region of the hemoglobin protein itself consists of 2 alpha chains and 2
beta chains.

1 actcttctgg tccccacaga ctcagagaga acccaccatg gtgctgtctc ctgccgacaa

61 gaccaacgtc aaggccgcct ggggtaaggt cggcgcgcac taaggcgagt atggtgcgga
121 ggccctggag aggatgttcc tgtccttccc caccaccaag acctacttcc cgcacttcga
181 cctgagccac ggctctgccc aggttaaggg ccacggcaag aaggtggccg acgcgctgac
241 caacgccgtg gcgcacgtgg acgacatgcc caacgcgctg tccgccctga gcgacctgca
301 cgcgcacaag cttcgggtgg acccggtcaa cttcaagctc ctaagccact gcctgctggt
361 gaccctggcc gcccacctcc ccgccgagtt cacccctgcg gtgcacgcct ccctggacaa

1. If the complement of the sequence is used as template to transcribe the mRNA, write down in the
answer sheet the sequence of this mRNA.

2. Determine the amino acid sequence that is translated from the alpha-2 mRNA by writing down above
each codon the corresponding amino acid. Note that the amino acid sequence should be within an open
reading frame (ORF) (Hint: What is the start codon?). Use the genetic code given below to translate the
sequence to amino acids but first, you need to complete the table.

Second Base
U C A G
First Base

UUU U
UUC Phe Tyr Cys C
U Ser Stop A
Leu Stop Trp G
U
His C
Third Base
C Leu Pro Arg A
Gln G
U
Ile Asn Ser C
A Thr A
Met or Lys Arg G
Start
U
Asp C
G Val Ala Gly A
Glu G