GENES AS DNA:

HOW GENES

ENCODE

PROTEIN

Submitted by:
Submitted to: Ms. Joyce Lacap

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 I. INTRODUCTION

A gene is the basic functional unit of heredity which are passed on from

parent to child and are believed by many to be an important part of what

decides looks and behavior (MedlinePlus Genetics, 2020).

Genes are made up of DNA. The term ‘gene’ was coined by Wilhelm

Johannsen in 1909, a Danish botanist . Some genes act as instructions to

make molecules called proteins. However, many genes do not code for

proteins. In humans, genes vary in size from a few hundred DNA bases to

more than 2 million bases. According to an international research effort, the

Human Genome Project, which worked  to identify the genes and

determine the sequence of the human genome that it contains, estimated that

humans have between 20,000 and 25,000 genes.

Every person has two copies of each gene, one inherited from each

parent. Most genes are the same in all people, but a small number of genes

(less than 1 percent of the total) are slightly different between people. Alleles

are forms of the same gene with small differences in their sequence of DNA

bases. These small differences makes us to have a unique physical features.

DNA is the physical molecule that makes up both chromosomes and

genes. DNA is typically found as one of the major parts of chromosomes.

Chromosomes are larger, sometimes microscopically visible, structures in

cells made of DNA and a few proteins. Genes are much smaller sections of

the chromosomes, made of DNA, that specifically code for how to make

proteins or RNA needed by the cell.

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 Advances in understanding genes and inheritance continued throughout

the 20th century. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was shown to be the molecular

repository of genetic information by experiments in the 1940s to 1950s.The

structure of DNA was studied by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice

Wilkins using X-ray crystallography, which led James D. Watson and Francis

Crick to publish a model of the double-stranded DNA molecule whose

paired nucleotide bases indicated a compelling hypothesis for the mechanism

of genetic replication.

Collectively, this body of research established the central dogma of

molecular biology, which states that proteins are translated from RNA, which

is transcribed from DNA. This dogma has since been shown to have

exceptions, such as reverse transcription in retroviruses. The modern study

of genetics at the level of DNA is known as molecular genetics.

The concept of gene continues to be refined as new phenomena are

discovered. For example, regulatory regions of a gene can be far removed

from its coding regions, and coding regions can be split into several exons.

Some viruses store their genome in RNA instead of DNA and some gene

products are functional non-coding RNAs. Therefore, a broad, modern

working definition of a gene is any discrete locus of heritable, genomic

sequence which affect an organism's traits by being expressed as a functional

product or by regulation of gene expression.

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 II. DNA TO PROTEIN

Genes are contained in chromosomes, which are in the cell nucleus. A

chromosome contains hundreds to thousands of genes. Inside a cell is a long

strand of the chemical DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). The part of DNA that

determines what protein to produce and when, is called a gene.

Our genes are the blueprint for our biology, because they tell each of your

cells what to do and when to do it: be a muscle, make bone, carry nerve

signals, and so on.

We are made of proteins. 50% of the dry weight of a cell is protein of one

form or another. Meanwhile, proteins also do all of the heavy lifting in your

body: digestion, circulation, immunity, communication between cells, motion-

all are made possible by one or more of the estimated 100,000 different

proteins that your body makes. But the genes in your DNA don't make protein

directly. Instead, special proteins called enzymes read and copy (or

"transcribe") the DNA code. The segment of DNA to be transcribed gets

"unzipped" by an enzyme, which uses the DNA as a template to build a

single-stranded molecule of RNA. Like DNA, RNA is a long strand of

nucleotides (The Tech Interactive, 2019).

All the proteins in your body are made from protein building blocks called

amino acids. There are twenty different amino acids used to make proteins,

but there are only 4 different nucleotides in DNA and RNA. DNA code is

designed to be read as triplets. Each "word" in the code, called a codon, is

three letters long or sets of three nucleotides. Additionally, a "start codon",

and three "stop codons" indicate the beginning and end of the protein coding

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region. The code is redundant, that is, most of the amino acids have at least

two different codons. Every living thing uses this exact code to make proteins

from DNA.

Figure 1. Health Guide and Fitness Exercises.“Essential Amino Acids in

Products”.(2015).https://www.airyourself.com/2015/05/essential-amino-acids-

in-products.html

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 The genes in DNA encode protein molecules, which are the "workhorses"

of the cell, carrying out all the functions necessary for life. For example,

enzymes, including those that metabolize nutrients and synthesize new

cellular constituents, as well as DNA polymerases and other enzymes that

make copies of DNA during cell division, are all proteins.

In the simplest sense, expressing a gene means manufacturing its

corresponding protein, and this multilayered process has two major steps. In

the first step, the information in DNA is transferred to a

messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule by way of a process called transcription.

There are three processes needed for protein formation. The Replication

which encoded the information ,Transcription a readable form of information 

and Translation which encoded the information.

The very first step in the protein formation immediately after the

completion of replication is transcription. During transcription, the DNA of a

gene serves as a template for complementary base-pairing, and

an enzyme called RNA polymerase II catalyzes the formation of a pre-mRNA

molecule, which is then processed to form mature mRNA. Through the

process of transcription, the information encoded into the DNA is transferred

into the mRNA during which, the unnecessary regions of DNA such as introns

are removed.  The resulting mRNA is a single-stranded copy of the gene,

which next must be translated into a protein molecule through translation

process, which is the second major step in gene expression.

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 Figure 1. Clancy, S. (2014).A gene is expressed through the processes of
transcription and translation. https://geneticeducation.co.in/dna-to-protein-a-
brief-overview-of-gene-expression/

During translation a mature mRNA molecule is used as a template for

synthesizing a new protein. Translation is carried out by ribosomes, large

complexes of RNA and protein responsible for carrying out the chemical

reactions to add new amino acids to a growing polypeptide chain by the

formation of peptide bonds. The genetic code is read three nucleotides at a

time, in units called codons, via interactions with specialized RNA molecules

called transfer RNA (tRNA). Each tRNA has three unpaired bases known as

the anticodon that are complementary to the codon it reads on the mRNA.

The tRNA is also covalently attached to the amino acid specified by the

complementary codon. When the tRNA binds to its complementary codon in

an mRNA strand, the ribosome attaches its amino acid cargo to the new

polypeptide chain, which is synthesized from amino terminus to carboxyl

terminus. During and after synthesis, most new proteins must fold to their

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active three-dimensional structure before they can carry out their cellular

functions.

Figure 2. The genetic code(2016). OpenStax

College.https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-biology/gene-expression-

and-regulation/translation/a/the-genetic-code-discovery-and-properties

The mRNA is "read" according to the genetic code, which relates the

DNA sequence to the amino acid sequence in proteins. Each group of three

bases in mRNA constitutes a codon, and each codon specifies a particular

amino acid (hence, it is a triplet code). The mRNA sequence is thus used as a

template to assemble—in order—the chain of amino acids that form a protein.

The amino acids specified by each mRNA codon. Multiple codons can code

for the same amino acid.

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 Next step of DNA to protein is completed- an mRNA transcript is formed in

the nucleus of a cell. For the next step of gene expression, the mRNA moves

from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. 

Within all cells, the translation machinery resides within a specialized

organelle called the ribosome. In eukaryotes, mature mRNA molecules must

leave the nucleus and travel to the cytoplasm, where the ribosomes are

located. On the other hand, in prokaryotic organisms, ribosomes can attach to

mRNA while it is still being transcribed. In this situation, translation begins at

the 5' end of the mRNA while the 3' end is still attached to DNA.

Each subunit exists separately in the cytoplasm, but the two join together

on the mRNA molecule.The eukaryotic ribosome is different from the

prokaryotic one. The eukaryotic ribosome is made up of the two separate

subunits- 50S (larger subunit) and 30S(smaller subunit), present separately in

the cytoplasm. Once the mRNA binds to the 50S ribosome, immediately the

30S subunit binds to it. The larger subunit of the ribosome provides three

different sites for performing the translation- A (amino acid site), P

(polypeptide site) and E (Exit site). The ribosome assembly has proteins and

other RNA molecules such as tRNA and rRNA required to complete the

translation. 

The ribosomal subunits contain proteins and specialized RNA molecules

—specifically, ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and transfer RNA (tRNA). The tRNA

molecules are adaptor molecules—they have one end that can read the triplet

code in the mRNA through complementary base-pairing, and another end that

attaches to a specific amino acid . The idea that tRNA was an adaptor

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molecule was first proposed by Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA structure,

who did much of the key work in deciphering the genetic code.

Within the ribosome, the mRNA and aminoacyl-tRNA complexes are held

together closely, which facilitates base-pairing. The rRNA catalyzes the

attachment of each new amino acid to the growing chain.

Figure 3.The translation initiation complex.(2014).Nature

Education.https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/translation-dna-to-mrna-

to-protein-393/

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 The tRNA also is known as transfer RNA simply helps in transferring

amino acid. One end of the tRNA reads the triplet codon and another end

adds the complementary amino acid on growing polypeptide chain. 

An anticodon end of the tRNA has anticodon complementary to the triplet

codon of our mRNA. The other end of the tRNA has the specific amino acid

related to the anticodon. 

In the final step, rRNA or ribosomal RNA catalyses the reaction and

separated the amino acid from the aminoacyl- tRNA complex.  

 In the next phase called elongation, peptide bonds are formed between

the adjacent amino acid using the enzyme peptidyl transferase and completes

the entire amino acid chain formation. 

 The process terminated once the tRNA recognises one of the three

termination codons presents at the end of the mRNA. 

In the final step, the release factors or release factor proteins bind to the

mRNA; and tRNA, ribosomes and other factors are removed from the

complex. A mature polypeptide chain of the amino acid is formed and

released from the ribosome complex. The required protein is yet not formed

because a mature polypeptide chain of the amino acid is actually not a

protein. A protein is a complex macromolecule made up of single or multiple

polypeptide chains, some made up of single amino acid chain while some by

many.  In addition to this, by folding in secondary, tertiary and quaternary

structures it forms even more complex form of protein. Enzymes, hormones,

receptors, chaperons, immunoglobulins, antibodies, cell surface protein,

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membrane proteins, bone and hair proteins are some of the different types of

protein.  

Enzymes are a class of protein widely catalyse many reactions such as

lipid metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism. If a single enzyme or protein

is not formed properly, it can not function at a target location or can not

catalyse the biological reaction. 

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 III.

All organisms inherit the genetic information specifying their structure and

function from their parents. Likewise, all cells arise from preexisting cells, so

the genetic material must be replicated and passed from parent to progeny

cell at each cell division. Genetic information is replicated and transmitted

from cell to cell and organism to organism. Although it is true that half of our

genome is inherited from our mother and half from our father, it is certainly not

the case that only some of our cells receive instructions from only some of our

DNA. Rather, every diploid, nucleated cell in our body contains a full

complement of chromosomes, and our specific cellular phenotypes are the

result of complex patterns of gene expression and regulation.  

Clues from studies examining the genomic structure of a variety of

organisms suggest that much of human uniqueness lies not in our number of

genes, but instead in our regulatory control over when and where certain

genes are expressed. Transcriptions and translation are steps that required to

read the information encoded in a gene's DNA and produce the protein it

specifies.

Scientists know that beyond the three types of RNA that make the central

dogma possible (mRNA, tRNA, and rRNA), there are many additional

varieties of functional RNA within cells, many of which serve a number of

known (and unknown) functions, including regulation of gene expression.

Understanding how the structure of these and other nucleic acids belies their

function at both the macroscopic and microscopic levels, and discovering

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how that understanding can be manipulated, is the essence of where genetics

and molecular biology converge.

Our understanding in all these fields has blossomed in recent years.

Thanks to the merger of molecular biology techniques with improved

knowledge of genetics, scientists are now able to create transgenic organisms

that have specific characters, test embryos for a variety of traits in vitro, and

develop all manner of diagnostic tests capable of identifying individuals at risk

for particular disorders. This interplay between genetics and society makes it

crucial for all of us to grasp the science behind these techniques in order to

better inform our decisions at the doctor, at the grocery store, and at home.

As we seek to cultivate this understanding of modern genetics, it is critical

to remember that the misconceptions expressed in the aforementioned essay

are the same ones that many individuals carry with them. Thus, when working

together, faculty and students need to explore not only what we know about

genetics, but also what data and evidence support these claims. Only when

we are equipped with the ability to reach our own conclusions will our

misconceptions be altered.

Consequently, explanation of the mechanisms of genetic transmission

and identification of the genetic material as DNA were discoveries that formed

the foundation of our current understanding of biology at the molecular level.

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%20gene%20is%20the%20basic,to%20make%20molecules%20called
%20proteins.&text=In%20humans%2C%20genes%20vary%20in,more
%20than%202%20million%20bases.

Joshna G.(2017).Genes. Retrieved from

https://www.biologydiscussion.com/essay/genetics-essay/essay-on-genetics-
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Gene.(2020).Wikipedia.Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene

How Do Genes Work?.(2019).The Tech Interactive.Retrieved from

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Kara, R. (2018).Chromosome number.Retrieved from

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David, F.( 2019).Genes and Chromosomes.Retrieved from

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chromosome

Knight and Andrade (2018).Genes and chromosomes 1: basic principles of

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06-2018/

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Clancy, S.(2014).Translation: DNA to mRNA to Protein. Retrieved fron

https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/translation-dna-to-mrna-to-protein-
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Chauhan, T.(2019).DNA To Protein- A Brief Overview Of Gene Expression.

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https://geneticeducation.co.in/dna-to-protein-a-brief-overview-of-gene-
expression/

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