LIFE 102 Lecture Notes - Transfer Rna, Central Dogma Of Molecular Biology, Peptide
Document Summary
A primary transcript is the initial rna transcript from any gene. The central dogma is the concept that cells are governed by a cellular chain of command: dna. Codons along an mrna molecule are read by translation machinery in the 5" to 3" direction. Each codon specifies the addition of one to 20 amino acids. All 64 codons were deciphered by the mid-1960s. Of the 64 triplets, 61 code for amino acids; 3 triplets are stop signals to end translation. The genetic code is redundant but not ambiguous; no codon specifies more than one amino acid. Codons must be read in the correct reading frame (correct groupings) in order for the specified polypeptide to be produced. The genetic code is nearly universal, shared by the simplest bacteria to the most complex animals. Genes can be transcribed and translated after being transplanted from one species to another.
