Student Exploration: RNA and Protein Synthesis

Vocabulary: amino acid, anticodon, codon, gene, messenger RNA, nucleotide, ribosome, RNA,
RNA polymerase, transcription, transfer RNA, translation

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. Suppose you want to design and build a house. How would you communicate your design
plans with the construction crew that would work on the house? I would draw plans for the
house and make copies of the plans for the crew

2. Cells build large, complicated molecules, such as proteins. What do you think cells use as
their “design plans” for proteins? DNA contains the instructions for building proteins

Gizmo Warm-up
Just as a construction crew uses blueprints to build a house, a
cell uses DNA as plans for building proteins. In addition to DNA,
another nucleic acid, called RNA, is involved in making proteins.
In the RNA and Protein Synthesis Gizmo, you will use both DNA
and RNA to construct a protein out of amino acids.

1. DNA is composed of the bases adenine (A), cytosine (C),

Look at the SIMULATION pane. Is the displayed segment a

it is DNA. It contains thymine instead of uracil

2. RNA polymerase is a type of enzyme. Enzymes help chemical reactions occur quickly.
Click the Release enzyme button, and describe what happens.
The two strands of the DNA molecule are separated

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 Activity A: Get the Gizmo ready:
Transcription  If necessary, click Release enzyme.

Introduction: The first stage of building a protein involves a process known as transcription.
In transcription, a segment of DNA serves as a template to produce a complementary strand of
RNA. This complementary strand is called messenger RNA, or mRNA.

Question: What occurs during transcription?

1. Experiment: Like DNA, RNA follows base-pairing rules. Experiment to find which RNA
nucleotide on the right side of the Gizmo will successfully pair with the thymine at the top of
the template strand of DNA. (NOTE: The DNA on the right side is the template strand.)

Which RNA base bonded with the thymine? adenine

2. Experiment: The next three bases on the DNA template strand are adenine, cytosine, and
guanine. Use the Gizmo to answer the following questions:

A. Which RNA base bonds with adenine? uracil

B. Which RNA base bonds with cytosine? guanine

C. Which RNA base bonds with guanine? cytosine

3. Observe: In molecules of RNA, uracil takes the place of the DNA base thymine

4. Build: Continue building the strand of mRNA until you have used all of the RNA nucleotides.
What is the nucleotide sequence of the mRNA strand you built? A U G C U G A C C U A G

5. Apply: Suppose a template strand of DNA had the following sequence:

T A C G G A T A A C T A C C G G G T A T T C A A
AUG CCU AUU GAU GGC CCA UA A GUU
What would be the complementary strand of mRNA?

6. Predict: How would a change to the sequence of nucleotides in a DNA segment affect the

mRNA transcribed from the DNA?

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 Activity B: Get the Gizmo ready:
Translation  Once the mRNA strand has been built, click Continue.

Introduction: After a strand of mRNA has been built, the strand exits the cell’s nucleus. The
second stage of protein synthesis, called translation, occurs next. During translation, the strand
of mRNA is used to build a chain of amino acids.

Question: What occurs during translation?

1. Observe: Examine the strand of mRNA on

In the table at right, list the nitrogen bases

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 Codon mRNA bases
1 AUG
2 CUG
3 ACC
4 UAG

2. Predict: Translation starts when a ribosome (the purple structure on the SIMULATION
pane) binds to a strand of mRNA. Transfer RNA, or tRNA, begins bringing amino acids into
the ribosome. Each tRNA molecule carries only one kind of amino acid. This amino acid is
determined by the tRNA’s anticodon, a set of three unpaired bases.

Which anticodon do you think would attach to the mRNA’s start codon? UCA

Use the Gizmo to check your answer.

3. Observe: Place the next two tRNA molecules on the mRNA strand. What happens?

As each tRNA molecule binds to the mRNA, the ribosome joins the amino acid carried by
the tRNA to the growing amino acid chain.

4. Describe: UAG (as well as UAA and UGA) is an example of a stop codon. Molecules called
release factors bind to stop codons. Place the release factor on the mRNA molecule.

What happens? The amino acid chain is released from the tRNA, and the release factor
and final Trna molecule exit the ribosome.

Click Continue. Your protein is now complete. Most actual proteins consist of sequences of
hundreds of amino acids.

(Activity B continued on next page)

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Activity B (continued from previous page)

5. Infer: Why do you think stop and start codon signals are necessary for protein synthesis?
Without start and stop codon signals, there would be no way to begin or end the process of
translation.

6. Summarize: Describe the processes of transcription and translation in your own words,
based on what you have observed in the Gizmo.

Transcription: Transcription begins when the enzyme RNA polymerase splits the DNA
molecule into two strands

Translation: The mRNA molecule moves to the ribosome.

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 Extension:
Get the Gizmo ready:
Genes and
 You will not need to use the Gizmo for this activity.
traits

Introduction: Inside a ribosome, amino acids are linked together to form a protein molecule. As
the chain of amino acids grows, it folds and coils to form a three-dimensional shape. The
complex shape that results determines the properties of the protein. Proteins have a wide
variety of structures and perform many essential functions in living things.

A sequence of DNA that codes for a specific protein is called a gene. By coding for proteins,
genes determine an organism’s inherited traits.

Question: How do genes code for specific proteins and traits?

1. Translate: Each codon codes for one of 20 amino acids. This code is universal among all
living things. For example, the mRNA codon GGU codes for the amino acid glycine in every
living thing, from a bacteria to an elephant.

Examine the codon chart below. The amino acid coded for by a specific mRNA codon can
be determined by finding the first base of the codon along the left side of the table, the
second base along the top of the table, and the third base along the right side of the table.

_________________________________________________________________________

What amino acids do the following codons code for?

AUG: _____________ CUG: _____________ ACC: _____________ UAG: _____________

(Extension continued on next page)

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Extension (continued from previous page)

2. Apply: Suppose you wanted a protein that consists of the amino acid sequence methionine,
asparagine, valine, and histidine. Give an mRNA sequence that would code for this protein.

3. Summarize: How do genes determine the traits of an organism?

4. Extend your thinking: Sometimes errors occur during transcription or translation. Examine
the codon chart on the previous page. Notice that each amino acid is coded for by several
different codons. For example, alanine is coded for by GCU, GCC, GCA, and GCG.

How might this offset transcription or translation errors?

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