What are the two forms of chromatin and their transcriptional activity?
Click to see answer
Euchromatin is relaxed and transcriptionally active, while heterochromatin is condensed and transcriptionally repressed.
Click to see question
What are the two forms of chromatin and their transcriptional activity?
Euchromatin is relaxed and transcriptionally active, while heterochromatin is condensed and transcriptionally repressed.
How are specific transcription factors regulated?
They are often regulated by posttranslational modification, such as phosphorylation, or by ligand binding, such as steroid hormones.
What is the role of specific transcription factors in the initiation of transcription?
Specific transcription factors bind to specific promoter sequences called regulatory elements, which are essential for the initiation of transcription.
How do regulatory proteins affect translation through UTRs?
Binding to 5‘-UTRs is associated with inhibition of translation, while binding to 3‘-UTRs increases translation efficiency by enhancing mRNA stability.
What is the effect of phosphorylating eIF-2α on translation initiation?
Phosphorylation of eIF-2α leads to its inability to bind GTP, resulting in inhibition of translation initiation.
Give examples of antimetabolites that affect DNA replication.
Examples include 5-fluorouracil and mercaptopurine, which directly inhibit the synthesis of dNTPs.
What role does 8-hydroxyquinoline play in transcription inhibition?
8-hydroxyquinoline is an antifungal transcription inhibitor.
What is the significance of methylation of CpG islands?
Methylation of CpG islands, which produces 5-methylcytosine, is associated with repression of transcription and is involved in imprinting.
What are inhibitors of replicative enzymes and their uses?
Inhibitors of replicative enzymes include inhibitors of topoisomerase, used to treat cancer or bacterial infections, and inhibitors of DNA polymerases, mainly used for antiviral treatments like acyclovir for herpes simplex.
What is amanitin and its significance?
Amanitin is a potent inhibitor of RNA polymerase 2 and is a deadly toxin found in several species of amanita mushrooms.
How do specific inhibitors of prokaryotic translation benefit human medicine?
Specific inhibitors of prokaryotic translation can be used as powerful antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial infections.
Why is the binding of initiation factors eIF-4E and eIF-4G important?
The binding of initiation factors on CAP is essential for the initiation of translation, and their posttranslational modifications can change their binding properties and translation initiation rate.
What is tissue-specific alternative splicing?
Tissue-specific alternative splicing is the process where exons of RNA are joined in multiple ways during RNA splicing, resulting in different types of mRNA needed for specific cells or tissues.
What pathological mechanisms can affect gene expression?
Genes can be amplified or deleted, which are pathologic mechanisms associated with cancer development, such as amplification of the HER2 gene leading to breast cancer.
What process does streptomycin affect and where does it act?
Streptomycin affects initiation and elongation at the 30S subunit.
What is the significance of the combination of transcription factors and DNA binding proteins?
The combination of all components is associated with comprehensive regulation of transcription in space and time.
What are substrate analogues and their role in DNA replication?
Substrate analogues can be incorporated into DNA by DNA polymerases, inhibiting further replication. Examples include azidothymidine and cytosine arabinoside.
What types of drugs damage DNA and their applications?
Drugs that damage DNA include alkylating agents (used in cancer treatment), platinum complexes (for solid tumors like breast cancer), and bleomycin (also for cancer treatment).
What are enhancers and silencers in the context of transcription regulation?
Enhancers increase the rate of transcription, while silencers decrease the rate of transcription.
What is rifampicin and how does it function as a transcription inhibitor?
Rifampicin is an antibacterial that inhibits prokaryotic DNA transcription by binding to the b-subunit of RNA polymerase.
What does puromycin do in the context of translation?
Puromycin causes premature termination at the 70S and 80S ribosomes.
How does histone acetylation affect gene expression?
Histone acetylation leads to the production of ε-N-acetyl lysine, which relaxes chromatin and activates transcription.
How does the binding of specific proteins affect mRNA stability?
The binding of specific proteins on the 3'-UTR or poly-A tail of mRNA significantly increases mRNA stability, leading to increased expression of particular proteins.
What are intercalating agents and their effect on DNA?
Intercalating agents are drugs that insert between DNA strands, disrupting or changing DNA conformation, which is associated with inhibition of replication. Many are mutagenic. Examples include anthracycline glycosides like daunorubicin and doxorubicin.
What are the three main mechanisms of targeted mRNA localization?
The three main mechanisms of targeted mRNA localization are direct transport of mRNA on the cytoskeleton, random diffusion of mRNA and trapping, and degradation of mRNA combined with local protection.
What role do miRNAs play in the regulation of translation?
miRNAs bind to complementary sequences on target mRNAs, leading to quick elimination by ribonucleases and blocking translation elongation.
What does RNA editing involve?
RNA editing involves altering the information stored in an mRNA through chemical modifications of bases, such as insertions or deletions of uracil and deamination of cytidine to uridine or adenine to inosine.
What are the most common inhibitors of translation?
The most common inhibitors of translation are antibiotics and antimetabolites.
What is the action of erythromycin in translation inhibition?
Erythromycin affects translocation at the 50S subunit.
What are antimetabolites and how do they affect DNA replication?
Antimetabolites are chemical compounds that inhibit the use of a metabolite, often resembling the metabolite they interfere with. They inhibit the production of substrates necessary for DNA replication, leading to decreased substrate availability and a reduced rate of replication.
Why is the transport of mRNA from the nucleus important?
The transport of mRNA from the nucleus is crucial for gene expression regulation during development, as uneven distribution of synthesized proteins is fundamental for cell differentiation.
What is the effect of diphtheria toxin on translation?
Diphtheria toxin affects elongation by inactivating eEF-2.
What is the most common mode of alternative splicing?
The most common mode of alternative splicing is exon skipping, where a particular exon may be included in mRNAs under certain conditions or in specific tissues.