Biology 1002B Lecture Notes - Northern Blot, Ionic Bonding, Ribosomal Rna
24 Aug 2013
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Document Summary
Regarding the study of biological function, there are two main categories of understanding: protein function and gene function. Protein function encompasses understanding biological function through isolated cellular components; focused greatly in biochemistry. Gene function encompasses understanding biological function by using mutants and looking at the organism as a whole; focused greatly in genetics. The tools of molecular biology have considerably narrowed the gap between the fields of genetics and biochemistry. Understanding how proteins work helps identify how a cell works. Controlling protein abundance is important in bodily functions. In order to control protein abundance, one can modulate the transcription of the dna sequence that codes for that particular protein, modulate the translation of the necessary mrna sequence, and/or modulate the decay rate of mrna (post-transcriptional modulation). An increase in transcription will increase the abundance of mrna in the cell. Protein abundance is often associated with the activity of the protein however sometimes this is not the case.
