DNA

• Acetylation


  Addition of an acetyl group to a histone protein so that gene expression is enhanced
• Adenine


  One of the nitrogenous bases found in DNA and RNA
• Anticodon


  A sequence of three bases in a tRNA molecule that binds to a complementary sequence of three bases (the codon) in an mRNA molecule, to specify a particular amino acid during protein synthesis
• Chromatin


  A tangled network of DNA in the nucleus of a cell that is not dividing
• Chromosome


  One of the 46 rod-like structures that appear in the nucleus of a human cell at the commencement of cell division
• Coding strand


  The strand of a DNA molecule that is not used to form mRNA
• Codon


  The strand of a DNA molecule that is not used to form mRNA
• CpG site


  A site on a DNA molecule where a cytosine nucleotide is next to a guanine nucleotide, DNA methylation usually occurs at these sites
• Cytosine


  One of the nitrogenous bases found in DNA and RNA
• Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)


  A molecule in the nucleus of a cell that determines the types of protein a cell can make
• DNA ligase


  Enzyme that joins short sections of DNA together
• DNA polymerase


  Enzyme that joins nucleotides together
• DNA replication


  The production of an identical copy of the DNA
• Double helix


  The spiral shape of the DNA molecule
• Epigenetics


  Altering expression of a gene without changing the gene structure
• Gene


  Section of a chromosome that contains the nucleotide sequence coding for a particular trait
• Gene expression


  The process where information in a gene is used to make a product
• Guanine


  One of the nitrogenous bases found in DNA and RNA
• Helicase


  The enzyme responsible for the separation of DNA strands during replication
• Histone


  A special protein around which DNA is coiled to form chromatin
• Messenger RNA (mRNA)


  An RNA molecule that transfers coded information from the nucleus to the ribosomes
• Methylation


  The addition of a methyl group to a DNA molecule that results in inhibition of gene expression
• Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)


  DNA found in the mitochondria
• Nuclear DNA


  DNA found in the nucleus
• Nucleosome


  A length of DNA wound around eight histone proteins
• Nucleotide


  Units of phosphate, sugar and nitrogen base that make up the DNA molecule
• Ribonucleic acid (RNA)


  A special molecule that takes the code for amino acids from DNA to the ribosomes
• Ribosomal RNA (rRNA)


  Nucleic acids that form part of the ribosomes
• RNA polymerase


  An enzyme that is active during transcription of RNA from DNA
• Start codon


  The sequence AUG (adenine, uracil, guanine) is the codon for the amino acid methionine; when a ribosome reaches this codon, it starts making protein
• Template strand


  The strand of a DNA molecule that is used to form the sequence of bases in mRNA and is copied during transcription
• Thymine


  One of the nitrogenous bases found in DNA
• Transcription


  The process by which messenger RNA is formed, using the code in a DNA molecule by matching the sequence of nucleotides
• Transfer RNA (tRNA)


  An RNA molecule that brings amino acids from the cytoplasm to the ribosomes
• Translation


  The production of a protein using the information coded in the mRNA molecule, another name for protein synthesis
• Triplet


  A sequence of three bases that is the code for a particular amino acid; also called a base triplet
• Uracil


  One of the nitrogenous bases found in RNA