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Replication and Transcription
Replication and Transcription
THE POLYMERIZATION OF
NUCLEOTIDE MONOMER
NUCLEOTIDE MONOMER
• Double helix unwinds
• Complementary base
pairing
A) Semi-conservative
C) Semi-discontinuous
• Semiconservative
replication Watson and
Crick model
• Conservative
replication: The
parental double helix
remains intact; both
strands of the daughter
double helix are newly
synthesized
• Dispersive replication:
At completion, both
strands of both double
helices contain both
original and newly
synthesized material.
Meselson-Stahl experiments confirm
semiconservative replication
Semi-conservative
replication:
An experiment by
Meselson and Stahl
showed that one
strand of each DNA
strand is passed on
unchanged to each of
the daughter cells.
This 'conserved'
strand acts as a
template for the
synthesis of a new,
complementary
strand by the enzyme
DNA polymerase
B) DNA Replication starts at origin of replication
Initiator proteins identify specific base sequences on
DNA
Prokaryotes – single ori site E.coli - oriC
Eukaryotes – multiple sites of origin (replicator)
E.g. yeast - ARS (autonomously replicating sequences)
Prokaryotes
C) Semi-discontinuous replication: DNA replication is
continuous on the leading strand and semidiscontinuous on
the lagging strand
Problem: The two DNA strands are of opposite polarity and DNA polymerases only
synthesize DNA 5’ to 3’.
Solution: DNA is made in opposite directions on each template.
16
DNA REPLICATION TERMINATION
DNA encodes hereditary information (genotype)->decoded into RNA -> protein (phenotype)
DNA
Transcription
RNA
Translation
Protein
Transcription
Transcription is the synthesis of RNA
molecules using DNA strands as the
templates so that the genetic information can
be transferred from DNA to RNA.
• The whole genome of DNA needs to be
replicated, but only small portion of genome
is transcribed in response to the
development requirement, physiological
need and environmental changes.
• DNA regions that can be transcribed into
RNA are called structural genes.
Similarity between
replication and transcription
replication transcription
primer yes no
transcription
RNA-pol of E. Coli
subunit MW function
Determine the DNA to be
36512
transcribed
The factor, a
hexamer, is a
ATPase and a
helicase.
-independent termination
• The termination signal is a stretch
of 30-40 nucleotides on the RNA
transcript, consisting of many GC
followed by a series of U.
• The sequence specificity of this
nascent RNA transcript will form
particular stem-loop structures to
terminate the transcription.
• The stem-loop structure alters the
conformation of RNA-pol, leading to
the pause of the RNA-pol moving.
• Then the competition of the RNA-
RNA hybrid and the DNA-DNA
hybrid reduces the DNA-RNA hybrid
stability, and causes the
transcription complex dissociated.
• Among all the base pairings, the
most unstable one is rU:dA.