BASIC MOLECULAR GENETIC MECHANISMS 基本分子遗传机制.doc

4 BASIC MOLECULAR GENETIC MECHANISMS 基本的分子遗传机制 Electron micrograph of DNA (green arrow) being transcribed into RNA (red arrow). [O. L. Miller, Jr., and Barbara R. Beatty, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.] 电子显微镜下的 DNA （绿色箭头） 被转录成 RNA （红色箭头）。 [O.L.米勒二世和芭芭拉 R.Beatty 橡树岭国家实验室] The extraordinary versatility of proteins as molecular machines and switches, cellular catalysts,and components of cellular structures was described in Chapter3. In this chapter we consider the nucleic acids. These macromolecules (1) contain the information for determining the amino acid sequence and hence the structure and function of all the proteins of a cell, (2) are part of the cellular structures that select and align amino acids in the correct order as a polypeptide chain is being synthesized, and (3) catalyze a number of fundamental chemical reactions in cells, including formation of peptide bonds between amino acids during protein synthesis. 第 3 章中描述了蛋白质分子机器和交换机、 蜂窝催化剂，以及组件的细胞结构的非同寻常多功能性。在这一章中我们考虑核酸。这些大分子 (1) 包含的信息用于确定氨基酸序列，因此结构和功能的所有的一个单元格，（2） 蛋白质是一部分的蜂窝结构的选择和对齐以正确的顺序中氨基酸多肽链是被人工合成和 (3) 催化基本化学反应在单元格包括形成期间蛋白质合成氨基酸之间的肽键的数目。 Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) contains all the information required to build the cells and tissues of an organism. The exact replication of this information in any species assures its genetic continuity from generation to generation and is critical to the normal development of an individual. The information stored in DNA is arranged in hereditary units, now known as genes, that control identifiable traits of an organism. In the process of transcription, the information stored in DNA is copied into ribonucleic acid (RNA), which has three distinct roles in protein synthesis. 脱氧核糖核酸（DNA）包含生成的细胞和有机体的组织所需的所有信息。精确的复制此信息的任何物种保证其遗传的连续性一代又一代，是个人正常发展的关键。存储在DNA 中的信息被排列成遗传性的单位，现在被称为基因，它控制有机体的识别特征。在DNA 中存储的信息被复制到在蛋白质合成中有三个不同的角色的核糖核酸 (RNA)上。 Messenger RNA (mRNA) carries the instructions from DNA that specify the correct order of amino acids during protein synthesis. The remark