Download What does DNA do?

Student Name: _____________________________
Date:
____________________
What does DNA do?
Activity 1 - Base Pairs
___ 1) Get a base pair. What is the name on the back? Look at its
shape. Walk around the room and find someone that you can
match up with to make a rectangle.
___ 2) Look at how people matched up. What rule can you come up
with for the base pairs? Write this rule down.
Rule:
Adenine always pairs with Thymine (or Uracil for RNA)
Guanine always pairs with Cytosine
This is the Base Pair Rule!
Activity 2 - Replication
___ 1) Get a strand of DNA from your teacher.
___ 2) Unzip the strand so you have two separate ones.
___ 3) Follow the base pair rule to fill in the missing base pairs for
each strand.
___ 4) Compare your strands. Are they similar? What have you
done? Where did this process take place in the cell? Why is
this process important?
They are identical copies of each other (mirror images). This
process takes place in the nucleus before cell division, so that each
new cell has a copy of the DNA.
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Student Name: _____________________________
Date:
____________________
Activity 3 -Transcription and Translation
___ 1) Use the amino acid chart to write out a code that spells a
word that is between 8-10 letters long. There are no letters B,
J, O, U, X, or Z!
Word
CLARK
mRNA
Strand
UGU CUU GCU CGU AAA
DNA Strand
(Base Pairs)
ACA GAA CGA GCA TTT
___ 2) Exchange your code with someone else in the class.
___ 3) Write down the code you received below:
DNA Strand:
ACA GAA CGA GCA TTT
___ 4) Take the code you have been given and transcribe it into an
mRNA strand. Record your code below: *​ *Remember, RNA
uses Uracil instead of Thymine**
mRNA Strand:
UGU CUU GCU CGU AAA
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Student Name: _____________________________
Date:
____________________
___ 5) Where in the cell are you located now?
Still in the nucleus
___ 6) Take your mRNA strand and translate it by matching it up
with the correct amino acid. Record this below and write the
letter for the each amino acid. Where does this take place.
Amino Acid Code:
UGU = C
CUU = L
GCU = A
CGU = R
AAA = K
The mRNA moves from nucleus into the cytoplasm
___ 6) What word did you spell out? Check with the person to see if
you are correct? What does this name represent
CLARK
This name represents a protein (a chain
of amino acids)
___ 7) Did you or anyone else make a mistake? What do we call
this when a cell does it?
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