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Group 1

Members:
Lea Andres
Janmillen Yamomo
Alessandra Barrozo
Ian Aquino
Joshuatroy Facunla
Edmark Taban
Criselle Ladines

Structures of
Chromosomes
Chromosomes are made of 50% proteins
(structure, protection, turn genes on and
off), and 50% DNA (deoxy-ribonucleic acid).
Chromosomes are made of many chromatin
threads, each containing DNA and proteins.
Somatic cells contain 46 chromosomes,
gametic cells contain 23 chromosomes.
44 of our chromosomes are AUTOSOMES,
while 2 are called sex chromosomes.

Structures of Genes
Protein coding genes have a coding region
flanked by untranslated regions and may
be split into exons and introns. There are
two types of gene in the human genom:
non-coding RNA genes and protein-coding
genes. Non-coding RNA genes represent
2-5 percent of the total and encode
functional RNA molecules. Many of these
RNAs are involved in the control of gene
expression, particularly protein synthesis.

They have no overall conserved


structure. Protein-coding genes
represent the majority of the total
and are expressed in two stages:
transcription and translation ( see
gene expression ). They show
incredible diversity in size and
organization and have no typical
structure. There are, however,
several conserved features.

Structure of a Gene
Simplified overview of gene structure and
expression. A protein-coding gene is
defined by the extent of the primary
transcript. The promoter and any other
regulatory elements are outside the gene.
The gene itself is divided into three types
of sequence. The coding region (light blue)
is the information used to define the
sequence of amino acids in the protein.
The untranslated regions (dark blue) are
found in the mRNA but are not used to
define the protein sequence; they are
often regulatory in nature.

Finally introns (white) are found in


primary transcript but spliced out of the
mRNA. They may interrupt the coding
and untranslated regions. The
boundaries of a protein-encoding gene
are defined as the points at which
transcription begins and ends. The core
of the gene is the coding region, which
contains the nucleotide sequence that
is eventually translated into the
sequence of amino acids in the protein.
The coding region begins with the
initiation codon, which is normally ATG.

It ends with one three termination codons:


TAA, TAG or TGA. On either side of the
coding region are DNA sequences that are
transcribed but are not translated. These
untranslated regions or non-coding regions
often contain regulatory elements that
control protein synthesis (see Figure) Both
the coding region and the untranslated
region may be interrupted by introns. Most
human genes are divided into exons and
introns. The exons are the sections that are
found in the mature transcript ( messenger
RNA), while the introns are removed from
the primary transcript by a process called
splicing ( see Gene expression).

The smallest protein-coding gene in


the human genome is only 500
nucleotides long and has no introns.
It encodes a histone protein (see
Epigenetics). The largest human gene
encodes the protein dystrophin,
which is missing or non-functional in
the disease muscular dystrophy. This
gene is 2.5 million nucleotides in
length and it takes over 16 hours to
produce a single transcript. However,
more than 99 percent of the gene
made up of its 79 introns.

Structures of DNA
DNA is one of thenucleic acids,
information-containing molecules in
the cell (ribonucleic acid, or RNA, is
the other nucleic acid). DNA is found
in the nucleus of every human cell.

The information in DNA:


Guides the cell ( along with RNA ) in
making new proteins that determine all of
our biological traits.
gets passed (copied) from one generation
to the next
The key to all of these functions is found in
the molecular structure of DNA, as
described by Watson and Crick.

More informations in
DNA:
Although it may look complicated, the DNA
in a cell is really just a pattern made up of
four different parts callednucleotides.
Imagine a set of blocks that has only four
shapes, or an alphabet that has only four
letters. DNA is a long string of these
blocks or letters. Each nucleotide consists
of a sugar (deoxyribose) bound on one
side to aphosphate groupand bound
on the other side to anitrogenous base.

There are two classes of nitrogen


bases calledpurines(double-ringed
structures) andpyrimidines(singleringed structures). The four bases in
DNA's alphabet are:
adenine (A)- a purine
cytosine(C)- a pyrimidine
guanine (G)- a purine
thymine (T)- a pyrimidine

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