Questions 1-4. One of the two strands
of a DNA molecule has the following sequence at a gene
TACGGGCCGAAC
1. What is the sequence of nucleotides
on the other strand of DNA?
ATGCCCGGCTTG
2. What is the sequence of codons
on the mRNA (using the original strand of DNA--TACGGGCCGAAC)?
AUGCCCGGCUUG
codon
#1 = AUG
codon
#2 = CCC
codon
#3 = GGC
codon
#4 = UUG
3. What is the anticodon sequence
on the tRNAs?
UAC
(corresponds to codon #1)
GGG
(corresponds to codon #2)
CCG
(corresponds to codon #3)
AAC
(corresponds to codon #4)
4. What is the sequence of amino acids?
Remember
to use the codon sequence on the mRNA NOT the anticodons on tRNA!
methionine--proline--glycine--leucine
5. Suppose that the original
DNA strand has a mutation so that the sequence becomes
TACGGGCCGAAG
What effect will the mutation have on the
protein, if any? Explain.
The mutation in the last
codon will change the amino acid that goes into the protein at that point.
Rather than leucine (coded for by codon #4 UUG), this protein will have
phenylalanine in that position (coded for by mutated codon #4 UUC).
Therefore, that protein will be different since it no longer has the same
sequence of amino acids (the primary structure). A different primary
structure will potentially change the three dimensional structure of the
protein (secondary, tertiary, and quartenary structures) such that the
protein may no longer function like the protein produced from the original
strand.
However, had the mutation
occurred in the third "letter" (nucleotide) of the second or third codon
(CCC or GGC) then there would have been no effect on the protein because
the third nucleotide ("letter") in these codons is redundant (could put
A, C, G, or U in the third position and you would get the same amino acid).
For example, had CCC been changed to CCA, CCG, or CCU, you will still get
proline.
This redundancy has led
many scientists to hypothesize that the earliest cells probably only had
a two "letter" (nucleotide) genetic code (i.e. the codons were only two
nucleotides long rather than 3). If you look at the genetic code,
many amino acids are not affected by which nucleotide is in the third position
in the codon. The few amino acids that are affected may have evolved
after the genetic code became a 3 "letter" code rather than a 2 "letter"
code.
6. Albinism is a recessive trait that results in a lack of pigmentation in the skin. Suppose a man and woman who both have normal skin pigmentation want to know the probability of producing an albino child. The man's brother was albino (i.e. his parents with normal skin pigmentation produced an albino child), but the woman's family has no history of albinism. What is the probability (chance) that this couple will have an albino child?
First, set up the alleles.
I will use A = "normal" pigmentation and a=albino. Next, decide on
the possible genotypes of the parents. Since the woman's family has
never produced any albino individuals, she is most likely homozygous dominant
for this trait. However, you do not know that for sure because she
could carry the recessive allele as a heterozygote. The man may be
heterozygous since both of his parents were also heterozygous (he had a
50% chance of being heterozygous and a 25% chance of being homozygous dominant),
or he could be homozygous dominant. To answer this question you need
to set up all possible crosses between these two people who both have the
dominant phenotype:
If the woman AA x man
Aa--possibility of producing an aa child = 0/4 or 0%
If the woman Aa x man
AA--possibility of producing an aa child = 0/4 or 0%
If the woman AA x man
AA--possibility of producing an aa child = 0/4 or 0%
If the woman Aa x man
Aa--possibility of producing an aa child = 1/4 or 25%
Therefore, if either the
man or the woman are homozygous dominant then the possibility of producing
an albino child is 0. However, if both of them are heterozygous,
they have a 25% chance of producing an albino child.
Technically if you add
of all of their probabilities they only have a 1 in 16 chance of producing
an albino offspring without knowledge of their genotype as AA or Aa, but
I would be satisfied with your answer if you set it up like I outlined
above.