Transcription and Translation [课件].ppt

Transcription and Translation Central Dogma of Molecular Biology The flow of information in the cell starts at DNA, which replicates to form more DNA. Information is then ‘transcribed” into RNA, and then it is “translated” into protein. The proteins do most of the work in the cell. Information does not flow in the other direction. This is a molecular version of the incorrectness of “inheritance of acquired characteristics”. Changes in proteins do not affect the DNA in a systematic manner (although they can cause random changes in DNA. Reverse Transcription However, a few exceptions to the Central Dogma exist. Most importantly, some RNA viruses, called “retroviruses” make a DNA copy of themselves using the enzyme reverse transcriptase. The DNA copy incorporates into one of the chromosomes and becomes a permanent feature of the genome. The DNA copy inserted into the genome is called a “provirus”. This represents a flow of information from RNA to DNA. Closely related to retroviruses are “retrotransposons”, sequences of DNA that make RNA copies of themselves, which then get reverse-transcribed into DNA that inserts into new locations in the genome. Unlike retroviruses, retrotransposons always remain within the cell. They lack genes to make the protein coat that surrounds viruses. Prions A prion is an “infectious protein”. Prions are the agents that cause mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, scrapie in sheep, and Creutzfeld-Jakob syndrome in humans. These diseases cause neural degeneration. In humans, the symptoms are approximately those of Alzheimer’s syndrome accelerated to go from onset to death in about 1 year. Fortunately, the disease is very hard to catch and very rare, and they usually have a long incubation time. No cure is known, and not enough is known about how it is spread to do a thorough job of preventing it. Avoid eating brains is a good start though. The prion protein (PrP) is nor