Protein Synthesis Essays - Biology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology

Protein Synthesis The process of Protein Synthesis involves many parts of the cell. Unlike other similar productions, this process is very complex and precise and therefore must be done in proper sequence to work effectively. The slightest error during this process could cause the action to experience difficulty or even fail. For example, in the production of starch, glucose molecules are combined to be stored and eventually utilized as usable chemical energy. The cell can break down the starch with little difficulty as if each molecule was identical, even though there is a wide variety of molecules. This is a different case in Protein Synthesis. In Protein Synthesis, there are twenty different amino acids and if one is out of place than is will effect the specificity of the protein. In a healthy person, the protein hemoglobin can be found in red blood cells, hemoglobin is helps with the transfer of respiratory gases from the blood to the tissues of the body. With an illness called sickle-cell anemia, the red blood cells are changed from a round, disk shape to a floppy looking sickle shape. These cells therefore cannot pass through small blood vessels due to their divergent shape. The actual cause of this mutation is a gene disorder, where the sixth codon of the protein glutamaric acid is changed with valine. This small change in the genetic code can cause severe defects in the effected such as blood clots, severe disorders and even death. All this can result from a misinterpretation in one codon in a chain of hundreds! Protein synthesis acts in this way, that is if there is only the most minuscule mistake it can have monstrous effects. THE BASICS OF DNA AND GENES Protein synthesis first begins in a gene. A gene is a section of chromosome compound of deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA. Each DNA strand is composed of phosphate, the five-carbon sugar deoxyribose and nitrogenous bases or nucleotides. There are four types of nitrogenous bases in DNA. They are (A)denine, (G)uanine, (T)hymine, (C)ytosine and they must be paired very specifically. Only Adenine with Thymine (A-T) and Guanine with Cytosine (G-C). To form a polynucleotide DNA, many nucleotides are linked together with 3`-5` phosphodiester linkages. In a complete molecule of DNA two of these polynucleotide strands are linked together by nitrogenous bases at 90 degrees to the sugar-phosphate "spine" (FIG. 1). The nitrogenous bases are held together with weak hydrogen bonds. One polynitrogenous chain runs in a 3'-5' direction, the 3' being the top hydroxyl and the 5' being the bottom phosphate attached to the carbon five of the sugar. The other string runs the opposite. The two strands of the structure cannot be identical but they are complimentary. There is no restrictions on the placement and sequence of the nucleotides, which becomes important in storage of information. TRANSCRIPTION: The Synthesis of RNA Genetic information would be rendered useless if the stored information did not have a way of reaching the desired focal area. Since protein synthesis occurs in the cytoplasm and the DNA must remain in the nucleus, a way of transporting the code is essential. This comes in the form of messenger ribonucleic acid or m-RNA. Since the information on the DNA must stay the same on the m-RNA, the two have to be very similar. There are three major differences between RNA and DNA. RNA is only a single strand. The five carbon sugar of RNA is ribose opposed to deoxyribose and in RNA the pyrimidine uracil (U) replaces DNA's pyrimidine thymine (T). Since RNA is produced from DNA, the nucleotides of RNA can hold the same information as the nucleotides of DNA because the code for amino acids is centered around the RNA structure. The process in which m-RNA is synthesized is called transcription. This process is similar to DNA replication in the way that for transcription to occur, the double helix DNA must be unwound as in DNA replication (FIG 2). The major difference between transcription and replication is that in transcription only one of the strands is used as a template and only one m-RNA strand is produced. Transcription can be broken up into three parts in order to be understood. These steps are: i)initiation, ii)elongation and iii)termination. Initiation of transcription is how the transcription begins. The enzyme responsible for m-RNA synthesis is called RNA polymerase 2. The RNA polymerase knows where to begin transcription because it is coded into the DNA. Elongation of transcription represents how the process happens. This occurs the same way as DNA replication, with the

Gr6 Essay- Human activity and endangered species B Essays

Gr6 Essay- Human activity and endangered species B Essays Gr6 Essay- Human activity and endangered species By Emilia Quinlan "An endangered species is a species of wild animal or plant that is in danger of extinction through out all or a significant portion of its range" (About Education) http://endangeredspecies.about.com/od/endangeredspecies101/a/What-Does-Endangered-Mean.htm In this Essay I will be choosing two endangered species. I will choose one endangered animal and one endangered plant. The endangered animal that I will be talking about is a Cross river gorilla (gorilla gorilla dielhi). The endangered plant that I will be talking about is a Rafflesia flower (Rafflesia arnoldii). Cross River Gorilla A cross river gorilla was very hard to study until the past decade or so. Because they were thought to be extinct by many scientists. "Cross river gorillas are scattered in at least 11 groups across the lowland montane forests and rainforests of Cameroon and Nigeria, an area of 3,000 square miles, or about twice the size of Rhode island." (WWF) Physical Description: "The Cross River gorilla is a subspecies of the western gorilla." It also comes from the other subspecies, Western lowland gorilla, it has a similar skull and tooth dimensions.(WWF) Food chain; Sun - flowers - cross river gorilla - leopard Another food chain; Sun - leaves - cross river gorilla - humans Last food chain; Sun - fruit - cross river gorilla- crocodile Population: 200 to 300 individuals. (WWF) Habitats: Forest habitat(WWF) Status: Critically endangered The cross river gorilla's scientific name is Gorilla gorilla diehli .(WWF) Main Threats: Habitat loss- The cross river gorilla group, manly live in unprotected forests and face the threat of habitat loss through logging and as local people treat their habitat bad and clear the land for agriculture and cattle grazing.(WWF) Hunting- The cross river gorilla's are being hunted due to hunters moving in. (illegally) (WWF) Low reproduction- The cross river gorilla has very low reproduction due to hunters and habitat loss. This means that there is a very low population and is very hard to reproduce therefore they will become more endangered and eventually extinct. Conclusion My conclusion for the cross river gorilla is help them by leaving there habitat alone and going somewhere else to log and agriculture. Another point is to stop hunting so they can not become extinct and they can have more cross river gorillas across Africa and the world. Rafflesia flower The Rafflesia flower does not have leaves, a steam, a root and is the biggest flower on earth. It is very rare and critically endangered. It is indeed the most magnificent and largest flower in the world. It was discovered in 1818 by Sir Stamford Raffles and "was mostly named after him self and his companion, surgeon-naturalist Dr James Arnold."( Rafflesia , the worlds largest bloom) " Raflesia ." Rafflesia , The World's Largest Bloom, www.rafflesiaflower.com/. Accessed 6 Mar. 2017. (bibliography for worlds largest bloom) This jungle flower of south-east Asia holds the all time record-breaking bloom of 106.7 centimeters (3ft 6 inches) diameter and in fact 11 kg (24 lb ) weight and the petals are an inch thick. ( Rafflesia , the worlds largest bloom) The Rafflesia flower is one of the rarest flowers in the world and is critically endangered therefore on its way to extinction.( Rafflesia , the worlds largest bloom) The scientific name for the Rafflesia flower is Rafflesia arnoldii after a man called Dr James Arnold discovered it and called it that in 1818. ( Rafflesia , the worlds largest bloom) A common name that people call it is the corpse flower because apparently it smells like rotten flesh.(Kew Royal botanic gardens ) Main Threats A main threat is that people are building a highway for more human access and is killing the Rafflesia flower habitat also humans are clearing out land to plant banana trees therefore the Rafflesia flower is losing their habitat and the population continues to decrease so they are in danger. (Red list) Another threat is that the Rafflesia flower has an extremally unbalanced sex ratio and there is more males then females so when it comes to reproduction it is very hard to find another male flower close by and if not the petals eventually die and decreases the population. (