From DNA to Proteins Vocabulary Words

Anticodon - A sequence of three nucleotides in transfer RNA that binds to the complementary triplet in messenger RNA to specify an amino acid during protein synthesis.

Codon - A sequence of three adjacent nucleotides, which encode for a specific amino acid during protein synthesis, or translation.

Exon -A sequence of a gene's DNA that transcribes into protein structures.

Genetic Code -The ordering of nucleotides in DNA molecules that carries the genetic information in   living cells.

Intron - A sequence of a eukaryotic gene's DNA that is not translated into a protein.

Messenger RNA -The template for protein synthesis; the form of RNA that carries information from DNA in the nucleus to the ribosome sites of protein synthesis in the cell.

Promoter - A region of DNA that facilitates the transcription of a particular gene.

Protein-coding Gene -Consists of a promoter that is followed by the coding sequence for the protein and then a terminator.

Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) -A nucleic acid molecule that is similar to DNA, but it contains ribose rather than deoxyribose.

RNA polymerase - An enzyme that produces RNA.

Ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) -Is the central component of the ribosome, the protein manufacturing machinery of all living cells.

Transcription -Or RNA synthesis. It is the process of creating an equivalent RNA copy of a sequence of DNA.

Translation -The process whereby genetic information coded in messenger RNA directs the formation of a specific protein at a ribosome in the cytoplasm.

Transfer RNA (tRNA) -A relatively small RNA that transfers a particular amino acid to a growing polypeptide chain at the ribosomal site of protein synthesis during translation.