Sunday 21 December 2014

If the DNA sequence is TACACCTTGGCGACGACT, then what is the amino acid sequence?

Before a protein can be made, the double helix of DNA must unwind. This allows one of DNA’s strands to be utilized as a template in order to make a single-stranded mRNA (messenger RNA). This process is called transcription.


DNA and RNA are nucleic acids. The monomers for nucleic acids are called nucleotides. Nucleotidesare made of a phosphate group, sugar, and one of four nitrogen bases. The possible nitrogen bases within DNA are adenine,...

Before a protein can be made, the double helix of DNA must unwind. This allows one of DNA’s strands to be utilized as a template in order to make a single-stranded mRNA (messenger RNA). This process is called transcription.


DNA and RNA are nucleic acids. The monomers for nucleic acids are called nucleotides. Nucleotides are made of a phosphate group, sugar, and one of four nitrogen bases. The possible nitrogen bases within DNA are adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. In DNA, adenine always pairs with thymine and cytosine always pairs with guanine. However, uracil replaces thymine in RNA. Therefore, in RNA, adenine pairs with uracil and cytosine still pairs with guanine. Therefore, the DNA sequence provided within your question must first be transcribed into an mRNA. This step is shown below:


DNA: TACACCTTGGCGACGACT


mRNA: AUGUGGAACCGCUGCUGA


Each set of three nitrogen bases of a mRNA nucleotides is called a codon. Each codon codes for one amino acid during translation of protein synthesis.


Codons charts are used to show the amino acids that correlate to each codon.


Thus, the transcribed mRNA needs to be split into segments of three:


AUG   UGG   AAC CGC   UGC   UGA


Then, the codon chart is used to find the corresponding amino acid to each codon. Therefore, the amino acid sequence to the DNA sequence provided within the question is:


Met (the start codon) – trp – asn – arg – cys – stop

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