Protein Synthesis Lab Analysis

-       The process of protein synthesis changes DNA into RNA, and then into proteins. The steps of this include transcription and translation. During transcription, RNA polymerase binds to the DNA and separates the DNA strands. RNA polymerase then uses one strand of DNA to as a template and attaches the corresponding nucleotide to create the strand of RNA. The base thymine is switched with the base uracil. The new RNA strand then travels from the nucleus to the ribosome. In translation, the ribosome reads the codons (pairs of 3 bases) to create a specific amino acid, which is then attached to a long string to create a protein.

     Changes in the base pairs of DNA molecules can have a major effect depending on the type of mutation that occurs and where in the DNA sequence it occurs. The 2 types of mutations are point mutations and frameshift mutations. Point mutations can be harmless and may only change one codon, though the amino acid coded is still the same. Frameshift mutations can drastically alter the DNA sequence and change the proteins created. The insertion and deletion of bases change all of the codons after the change and greatly affects which amino acids the codons code for due to them all being changed. A frameshift mutations earlier in the sequence is the most harmful as it has the most codons to change.

    

    The mutation that we chose for our was a deletion of a base near the beginning of the sequence. We chose this mutation since it was a frameshift mutation and we believed that it would cause the most damage. Compared to other mutations, this one changed the most base codons and changed the most amino acids, creating different ones and getting rid of the stop codon. It matters where the mutation occurs because earlier mutations change all the ones behind them and have a greater effect.

    One real life mutation that occurs in human organisms is sickle cell anemia, which is the result of point mutation in one of the nucleotides for the protein of hemoglobin. The mutation causes the red blood cells to distort and form clots, greatly endangering the body.