Gene Expression & Regulation

• DNA and RNA are structurally similar in the following ways: Both contain nucleotides, both are chain-like molecules, and both follow base-pairing rules
• Prokaryotic and eukaryotic genome differ in that prokaryotic genomes is smaller and circular, while eukaryotic genome is bigger and linear. However, they both contain plasmids
• The RNA polymerase synthesizes mRNA in the 5' to 3' direction by reading the template in the 3' to 5' direction
• Translation involves three main steps: initiation, elongation, and termination
• Nucleotides used to construct DNA and RNA are common among organisms. This is evidence of common ancestry
• In initiation, rRNA interacts with mRNA at the first start codon. Then, tRNA molecules bring the anti-codon to the correct place
• In elongation, each newly arrived tRNA carries an amino acid to be added to the growing polypeptide chain, and the rRNA adds the amino acid
• In termination, amino acids continue to be added until a stop codon is reached. The translation ends and the polypeptide is released
• Tail is added to the 3' end, and the cap is added to the 5' end