Review on Protein Synthesis

Ms. Karyn Chrislene A. Vitor-Maluya

Learning Objectives

• Review base-pairing rules

• Review basics of transcription and translation
DNA base pairing
Watson-Crick base pairing
The rules of base pairing (or nucleotide pairing) are:

A with T: the purine adenine (A) always pairs with the pyrimidine thymine (T)
C with G: the pyrimidine cytosine (C) always pairs with the purine guanine (G)

Chargaff's rule
The rules of base pairing explain the phenomenon that whatever the amount of adenine (A) in the
DNA of an organism, the amount of thymine (T) is the same. Similarly, whatever the amount of guanine
(G), the amount of cytosine (C) is the same.
DNA base pairing
hydrogen bonds
RNA – ribonucleic acids
• intermediary role in transcription and translation
• genetic information of DNA is transferred to messenger RNA
(mRNA) through transcription and then translated into protein
with the help of transfer RNA (tRNA) and ribosomal RNA (rRNA)
RNA - ribonucleic acids
• known functional RNAs - mRNA, tRNA and rRNA

• Responsibilities
• post transcriptional regulation and translation processes within the cellular
machinery and thereby regulate gene expression levels
• enzymatic activities
• chaperone activity to assist protein
• ability of recognition and binding to specific target molecules for genetic control folding

Enzymes are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions
• RNAP, RNA Pol
• catalyzes the initiation and elongation of RNA chains
• also called “DNA dependent RNA Polymerase

• Recognize and bind to specific locations (promoters) of the DNA

• Partially unwinding the DNA template molecule
• Synthesizing an RNA primer for further elongation
• Chain termination
• RNA polymerase Ι transcribe genes that yield rRNAs
• RNA polymerase ΙΙ transcribes protein-coding genes and results in the
synthesis of mRNAs
• RNA polymerase ΙΙΙ transcribe genes that yield tRNAs
• RNAP, RNA Pol
• catalyzes the initiation and elongation of RNA chains
• also called “DNA dependent RNA Polymerase

• Recognize and bind to specific locations (promoters) of the DNA

• Partially unwinding the DNA template molecule
• Synthesizing an RNA primer for further elongation
• Chain termination
 Transcription
RNA polymerase binds to a region of a gene - promoter

addition of nucleotides to the mRNA strand

RNA polymerase crosses a stop (termination) sequence in the gene

Polyadenylation occurs during and/or immediately after

transcription of DNA into RNA
Polyadenylation occurs during and/or immediately after transcription of DNA into RNA

The polyA tail is a long chain of adenine nucleotides that is added to a mRNA molecule during RNA processing
• makes the RNA molecule more stable and prevents its degradation

• allows the mature mRNA molecule to be exported from the nucleus and translated into a protein by
ribosomes in the cytoplasm
 exons, which correspond to protein-coding sequences (ex-on signifies that they are expressed)

Intervening sequences called introns (intron denotes their intervening role)

• removed from the pre-mRNA during processing
• do not encode functional proteins.

All of a pre-mRNA’s introns must be completely and precisely removed before protein synthesis.
If the process is mistaken by even a single nucleotide, the reading frame would shift, and the resulting
protein would be dysfunctional.

The process of removing introns and reconnecting exons is called splicing

Translation
• Requirements

• tRNA
• Ribosomes
• Anticodons
• Aminoacyl tRNA Synthetases
Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) are universally distributed enzymes that
catalyze the esterification of a tRNA to its cognate amino acid
A codon is a sequence of three nucleotides in DNA that
encodes an amino acid or a stop signal in protein synthesis

start codon is the first codon of a messenger RNA

(mRNA) transcript

Stop codon signal the end of the polypeptide chain

during translation
RNA - ribonucleic acids
• known functional RNAs - mRNA, tRNA and rRNA
Transfer RNA or tRNA is a type of RNA molecule
• helps to decode information present in mRNA sequences
into specific proteins
• tRNA molecule is a carrier of amino acid
• tRNA is also known as an adaptor molecule
ribosomal RNA (rRNA) molecules form the core of a cell's ribosomes
• Ribosomes are complexes of rRNA molecules and proteins
• ribosomes are visible as clusters, called polyribosomes
Recall
What are the known functional
RNA in transcription and
translation?
What are the three classes of
RNA Pol?
Label the colored boxes in the
given figure.
What are the three stages of
transcription?
Label the parts of a tRNA.
Post-translation Modification
(PTM)
PTM
• What is PTM?

• covalent processing events that change the properties of a protein by

proteolytic cleavage and adding a modifying group to one or more
amino acids such as:
• Acetyl acetylation acetyl
• Phosphoryl phosphorylation phosphate group
• Glycosyl glycosylation glycosyl (carbohydrate)
• Methyl methylation methyl
PTM
• What is PTM?

• occur on the amino acid side chains or at the protein's C- or N-

terminal
What are the importances of these modifications?

• affect a wide range of protein behaviors and characteristics, including

enzyme function and assembly
• modifications are involved in various biological processes
• signal transduction
• gene expression regulation
• gene activation
• DNA repair
• cell cycle control
• PTMs occur in various cellular organelles including the nucleus, cytoplasm,
endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus
PTM
What is the effect if there is disruption in the PTM?

Disruption in PTMs can lead to the dysfunction of vital biological

processes and results to various diseases
MedComm, Volume: 4, Issue: 3, First published: 02 May 2023, DOI: (10.1002/mco2.261)
Thank you for listening!
karynchrislenevitor@umindanao.edu.ph