Lesson 2.

2 Learning Task Worksheet

These questions should help you to review the content and skills that you learned by reading
Chapter 17 of your textbook and completing all of the lesson activities.

● Read each question carefully.

● Complete each question thoroughly.
● Turn in your completed worksheet to your teacher.
1. What amino acids would be coded by the piece of mRNA UUUUGUAACAAAGCCUAA?

2. What are the basic differences between eukaryotic and prokaryotic transcription and
translation?

3. Why is the genetic code redundant but not ambiguous?

4. What are the specific roles of promoters, RNA polymerase, transcription factors, and
terminators in the process of transcription?

5. What are the three stages of transcription? What events occur in each stage?
6. How are the functions of DNA polymerase and RNA polymerase similar? How are their
functions different?

7. What modifications are made to eukaryotic pre-mRNA prior to leaving the nucleus?

8. What do the terms upstream and downstream mean in reference to DNA and transcription?

9. A eukaryotic DNA is transcribed as in the diagram below. What is the size in bases of the fully
processed, mature mRNA? Assume the poly A tail to be 200 bp. The numbers in the diagram
refer to the number of base pairs.

0 Exon 1 100 Intron 1 175 Exon 2 225 Intron 2 295 Exon 3 320

10. What is the structure and function of a spliceosome?

11. How does alternative splicing relate to the fact that humans have only approximately
20,000 genes but can produce over 100,000 different proteins?
12. What is a ribozyme? What long-held belief did these molecules render obsolete?

13. How could exon shuffling facilitate the evolution of novel proteins?