Download The Central Dogma of Biology Classroom Copy

The Central Dogma of Biology
Classroom Copy
The “Central Dogma” is a process by which the instructions in DNA are converted into a
functional product. It was first proposed in 1958 by Francis Crick, one of the discoverers of
the structure of DNA.
The central dogma of molecular biology explains the flow of genetic information, from DNA to
RNA, to make a functional protein also known as a polypeptide. DNA contains the information
needed (code) to make all of our proteins, and messenger RNA (mRNA) is a messenger that
carrier the information to the rRNA (workbench). Another RNA, transfer RNA (tRNA)
translates the copy of the code from the mRNA to make a protein.
1. Summarize the central dogma in your own words.
Use chapter 13 to answer the following questions
1. Compare RNA and DNA (page 362)
2. What is the analogy used for the function of RNA? (page 363)
3. Summarize the role of messenger (mRNA), ribosomal (rRNA), and transfer (tRNA).
4. What is transcription? Where does it take place in the eukaryotic cell?
5. Define promoters, introns, exons.
6. What is the first step in decoding the information into DNA? (page 366)
7. How is the genetic code read? What is a codon? (page 366)
8. Read the codon ACU, what amino acid is made? (page 367)
9. Define translation. (page 368)
10. Summarize the steps of translation. (page 368 and 369)
11. What is gene expression (page 370)