Glossary and Overviews
There are two alphabetic indexes for the Glossary :
▫Sections▫ at the top of the sidebar show all o-o items o-o beginning with indicated letter. ◦Items◦, lower on sidebar, provide links to listed o-o items o-o beginning with indicated letter. The body of each o-o item o-o provides links to more detailed items on the Companion Sites. Iconic links to site maps for the Companion Sites are provided at the base of the sidebar at left. The alphabetic o-o items o-o also provide direct links to more detailed items on the companion sites.
Alphabetic links to Glossary items:◦ A ◦ B ◦ C ◦ D ◦ E ◦ F ◦ G ◦ H ◦ I ◦ J ◦ K ◦ L ◦ M ◦ N ◦ O ◦ P ◦ Q ◦ R ◦ S ◦ T ◦ U ◦ V ◦ W ◦ X ◦ Y ◦ Z ◦ o-o animation index o-o diagram index o-o image index o-o micrograph index o-o table index o-o sem/tem index o-o video index .
Overview:
Scientific theories of biological evolution seek to explain the mechanisms of the observable fact of biological evolution. Scientists observing biological evolution first sought to explain observed morphological changes over time – phenotypic evidence of changes in body structure found in the fossil record. Since the advent of modern molecular genetics, biological evolution has come to be understood as a change in genotype – that is, a genetic alteration in the intergenerational frequency of alleles in populations.
There are two basic types of mechanism involved in biological evolution. First are the genetic sources of alteration of a gene within the genotype of an individual (mutations). Duplication mutations have been particularly important in evolutionary history. Second are those statistical mechanisms that determine the fate of an altered allele. These are the mechanisms that increase or decrease frequency of an allele (a form of a gene at a locus) within a population. Evolution is expected to occur when selection acts on a trait that has a heritable basis of phenotypic variation.
Biochemistry includes the study of ions, inorganic molecules, and organic molecules involved in biological processes – for example, structural molecules, transport molecules, and metabolic pathways. • Molecules in Pathways •
Molecular genetics is the study of molecules and mechanisms involved in genetic inheritance. Archival information molecules are long polymers of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) comprising bases in specific sequence. The bases adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine (G), function as codon triplets – sequences of three bases that code for specific amino acids or for translation initiation (start codons) or termination (stop codons). Uracil is substituted for thymine in RNA.
The segments of DNA that contain protein-coding instructions are called genes, and these gene sequences comprise a portion of the total genome of a cell. The genome includes both the genes (coding-sequences, domains) and the non-coding sequences – both exons, which include open reading frames, and introns.
Because the 64 possible combinations of G-A-T-C code for only the 20 amino acids commonly found in proteins, the code is 'degenerate' (redundant) with more than one triplet combination coding for each amino acid. (This code reduncancy provides hereditary stability by reducing mutation errors.) The double helix of DNA comprises paired nucleotide strands in which the nucleobases are hydrogen bonded to complementary bases in the adjacent chain. Adenine pairs with thymine or uracil (A-TU), and cytosine pairs with guanine (CG).
During cellular reproduction, strands of archival DNA are copied or replicated. Transcription is the first step in gene expression – DNA instructions are converted into mRNA codons, rRNAs, miRNAs, and tRNAs. Coding instructions of nucleotide sequences in archival DNA, which have been transcribed and processed into mRNAs are then translated into polypeptides and proteins at cytoplasmic ribosomes. Translation is the ultimate step in gene expression, in which archival genetic instructions are converted into specified sequences of amino acids in peptides, polypeptides, and proteins.
In prokaryotic cells – without a nuclear membrane – translation into polypeptides and proteins may begin prior to termination of transcription. The molecular genetics of eukaryotic cells is more complicated than that of prokaryotes. Various molecules of ribonucleic acid (RNA) participate in the transcription of the DNA code into processed mRNA in a series of RNA processing stages including capping, polyadenylation, and pre-mRNA splicing.
Following pre-mRNA processing, RNAs undergo extranuclear transfer. Mature RNAs may undergo post-transcriptional modulation (via miRNAs) before translation of the archival DNA instructions into specific sequences of amino acids in the polypeptides and proteins that participate in cellular function and structure. Transfer RNAs (tRNA) deliver specific amino acids to the cytoplasmic ribosomes along the rough endoplasmic reticulum. Ribosomal RNAs participate in assembly of polypeptides and proteins at ribosomes. Here RNAs serve as ribozymes – non-proteinaceous enzymes.
A number of processes are involved in control of cellular function through the maintenance of accuracy of genetic inheritance – damage to DNA is repaired, and faulty RNA is destroyed by nonsense-mediated decay or nonstop decay.
DNA damage may result from replication errors, incorporation of mismatched nucleotides (substitution errors – transitions and transversions), damage by oxygen radicals, hydroxyl radicals, ionizing or ultraviolet radiation, toxins, alkylating agents, and chemotherapy agents. A number of vital mechanisms repair DNA damage to bases (including C to T, C to U, and T U mismatch) and to strands, including double strand breaks. All organisms, prokaryotic and eukaryotic, utilize at least three enzymatic excision-repair mechanisms for damaged bases: base excision repair, mismatch repair, and nucleotide excision repair.
Given the importance of mRNA as an information-carrying molecule, faulty pre-mRNAs and mRNAs must be eliminated – they are destroyed by nonsense-mediated decay or nonstop decay:
1. A pre-mRNA made from a mutant gene usually has an exon junction complex (EJC) in the wrong position. This error activates nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) and destroys the pre-mRNA before it can be used to make flawed proteins. There are at least two kinds of NMD: one requires the protein UPF2 and the other does not.
2. Nonstop decay is mRNA turnover mechanism that has none of the properties of normal mRNA turnover or of NMD. A multi-enzyme complex called the exosome is important for nonstop decay. The exosome is the site for binding of a specific adapter protein called Ski7p. Nonstop decay shares none of the enzymes required for nonsense-mediated decay.
Just as cells repair DNA, they must also maintain the proteome by managing damaged proteins. Heat stress denaturates proteins, causing weakening of polar bonds and exposure of hydrophobic groups. The cellular stress response (heat-shock response) protects organisms from damage resulting from environmental stressors such as heat, UV light, trace metals, and xenobiotics. Stress genes are activated to rapidly synthesize stress proteins, which are highly conserved in biological evolution and play similar roles in organisms from bacteria to humans. Normally, several constitutive stress proteins are present at low levels to function as molecular chaperones, so as to facilitate folding, assembly, and distribution of newly synthesized proteins. For the environmentally stressed cell, stress proteins protect and repair vulnerable protein targets, and play a role in the lysosomal and ubiquitin protein degradation pathways (for removal of unsalvageable proteins). Thus, the cellular stress response performs orchestrated induction of key proteins necessary for cellular protein repair and degradation systems.
Alphabetic links to Glossary items:◦ A ◦ B ◦ C ◦ D ◦ E ◦ F ◦ G ◦ H ◦ I ◦ J ◦ K ◦ L ◦ M ◦ N ◦ O ◦ P ◦ Q ◦ R ◦ S ◦ T ◦ U ◦ V ◦ W ◦ X ◦ Y ◦ Z ◦ o-o animation index o-o diagram index o-o image index o-o micrograph index o-o table index o-o sem/tem index o-o video index .
Companion Sites : Gray Sites • Abiogenesis & Evolution • Algorithms of Evolution • Cancer • Cell Biology • Chemistry of Life • Complex Systems • Cyanobacteria • Enzymes • Evo Devo • Immunology • Mechanisms of Evolution • Molecular Biology • Origin of Life • Paleogeology • Refuting ID • Serial Endosymbiosis • Stromatolites • Taxonomy Phylogeny • Virus • White Sites • Diagrams & Tables • Eubacteria & Archaea • Molecule • Molecular Paths • Pathways • Photosynthesis • Black Sites • Endosymbiosis • Organics •
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▫Sections▫ at the top of the sidebar show all o-o items o-o beginning with indicated letter. ◦Items◦, lower on sidebar, provide links to listed o-o items o-o beginning with indicated letter. The body of each o-o item o-o provides links to more detailed items on the Companion Sites. Iconic links to site maps for the Companion Sites are provided at the base of the sidebar at left. The alphabetic o-o items o-o also provide direct links to more detailed items on the companion sites.
Alphabetic links to Glossary items:◦ A ◦ B ◦ C ◦ D ◦ E ◦ F ◦ G ◦ H ◦ I ◦ J ◦ K ◦ L ◦ M ◦ N ◦ O ◦ P ◦ Q ◦ R ◦ S ◦ T ◦ U ◦ V ◦ W ◦ X ◦ Y ◦ Z ◦ o-o animation index o-o diagram index o-o image index o-o micrograph index o-o table index o-o sem/tem index o-o video index .
Overview:
Scientific theories of biological evolution seek to explain the mechanisms of the observable fact of biological evolution. Scientists observing biological evolution first sought to explain observed morphological changes over time – phenotypic evidence of changes in body structure found in the fossil record. Since the advent of modern molecular genetics, biological evolution has come to be understood as a change in genotype – that is, a genetic alteration in the intergenerational frequency of alleles in populations.
There are two basic types of mechanism involved in biological evolution. First are the genetic sources of alteration of a gene within the genotype of an individual (mutations). Duplication mutations have been particularly important in evolutionary history. Second are those statistical mechanisms that determine the fate of an altered allele. These are the mechanisms that increase or decrease frequency of an allele (a form of a gene at a locus) within a population. Evolution is expected to occur when selection acts on a trait that has a heritable basis of phenotypic variation.
Biochemistry includes the study of ions, inorganic molecules, and organic molecules involved in biological processes – for example, structural molecules, transport molecules, and metabolic pathways. • Molecules in Pathways •
Molecular genetics is the study of molecules and mechanisms involved in genetic inheritance. Archival information molecules are long polymers of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) comprising bases in specific sequence. The bases adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine (G), function as codon triplets – sequences of three bases that code for specific amino acids or for translation initiation (start codons) or termination (stop codons). Uracil is substituted for thymine in RNA.
The segments of DNA that contain protein-coding instructions are called genes, and these gene sequences comprise a portion of the total genome of a cell. The genome includes both the genes (coding-sequences, domains) and the non-coding sequences – both exons, which include open reading frames, and introns.
Because the 64 possible combinations of G-A-T-C code for only the 20 amino acids commonly found in proteins, the code is 'degenerate' (redundant) with more than one triplet combination coding for each amino acid. (This code reduncancy provides hereditary stability by reducing mutation errors.) The double helix of DNA comprises paired nucleotide strands in which the nucleobases are hydrogen bonded to complementary bases in the adjacent chain. Adenine pairs with thymine or uracil (A-TU), and cytosine pairs with guanine (CG).
During cellular reproduction, strands of archival DNA are copied or replicated. Transcription is the first step in gene expression – DNA instructions are converted into mRNA codons, rRNAs, miRNAs, and tRNAs. Coding instructions of nucleotide sequences in archival DNA, which have been transcribed and processed into mRNAs are then translated into polypeptides and proteins at cytoplasmic ribosomes. Translation is the ultimate step in gene expression, in which archival genetic instructions are converted into specified sequences of amino acids in peptides, polypeptides, and proteins.
In prokaryotic cells – without a nuclear membrane – translation into polypeptides and proteins may begin prior to termination of transcription. The molecular genetics of eukaryotic cells is more complicated than that of prokaryotes. Various molecules of ribonucleic acid (RNA) participate in the transcription of the DNA code into processed mRNA in a series of RNA processing stages including capping, polyadenylation, and pre-mRNA splicing.
Following pre-mRNA processing, RNAs undergo extranuclear transfer. Mature RNAs may undergo post-transcriptional modulation (via miRNAs) before translation of the archival DNA instructions into specific sequences of amino acids in the polypeptides and proteins that participate in cellular function and structure. Transfer RNAs (tRNA) deliver specific amino acids to the cytoplasmic ribosomes along the rough endoplasmic reticulum. Ribosomal RNAs participate in assembly of polypeptides and proteins at ribosomes. Here RNAs serve as ribozymes – non-proteinaceous enzymes.
A number of processes are involved in control of cellular function through the maintenance of accuracy of genetic inheritance – damage to DNA is repaired, and faulty RNA is destroyed by nonsense-mediated decay or nonstop decay.
DNA damage may result from replication errors, incorporation of mismatched nucleotides (substitution errors – transitions and transversions), damage by oxygen radicals, hydroxyl radicals, ionizing or ultraviolet radiation, toxins, alkylating agents, and chemotherapy agents. A number of vital mechanisms repair DNA damage to bases (including C to T, C to U, and T U mismatch) and to strands, including double strand breaks. All organisms, prokaryotic and eukaryotic, utilize at least three enzymatic excision-repair mechanisms for damaged bases: base excision repair, mismatch repair, and nucleotide excision repair.
Given the importance of mRNA as an information-carrying molecule, faulty pre-mRNAs and mRNAs must be eliminated – they are destroyed by nonsense-mediated decay or nonstop decay:
1. A pre-mRNA made from a mutant gene usually has an exon junction complex (EJC) in the wrong position. This error activates nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) and destroys the pre-mRNA before it can be used to make flawed proteins. There are at least two kinds of NMD: one requires the protein UPF2 and the other does not.
2. Nonstop decay is mRNA turnover mechanism that has none of the properties of normal mRNA turnover or of NMD. A multi-enzyme complex called the exosome is important for nonstop decay. The exosome is the site for binding of a specific adapter protein called Ski7p. Nonstop decay shares none of the enzymes required for nonsense-mediated decay.
Just as cells repair DNA, they must also maintain the proteome by managing damaged proteins. Heat stress denaturates proteins, causing weakening of polar bonds and exposure of hydrophobic groups. The cellular stress response (heat-shock response) protects organisms from damage resulting from environmental stressors such as heat, UV light, trace metals, and xenobiotics. Stress genes are activated to rapidly synthesize stress proteins, which are highly conserved in biological evolution and play similar roles in organisms from bacteria to humans. Normally, several constitutive stress proteins are present at low levels to function as molecular chaperones, so as to facilitate folding, assembly, and distribution of newly synthesized proteins. For the environmentally stressed cell, stress proteins protect and repair vulnerable protein targets, and play a role in the lysosomal and ubiquitin protein degradation pathways (for removal of unsalvageable proteins). Thus, the cellular stress response performs orchestrated induction of key proteins necessary for cellular protein repair and degradation systems.
Alphabetic links to Glossary items:◦ A ◦ B ◦ C ◦ D ◦ E ◦ F ◦ G ◦ H ◦ I ◦ J ◦ K ◦ L ◦ M ◦ N ◦ O ◦ P ◦ Q ◦ R ◦ S ◦ T ◦ U ◦ V ◦ W ◦ X ◦ Y ◦ Z ◦ o-o animation index o-o diagram index o-o image index o-o micrograph index o-o table index o-o sem/tem index o-o video index .
Companion Sites : Gray Sites • Abiogenesis & Evolution • Algorithms of Evolution • Cancer • Cell Biology • Chemistry of Life • Complex Systems • Cyanobacteria • Enzymes • Evo Devo • Immunology • Mechanisms of Evolution • Molecular Biology • Origin of Life • Paleogeology • Refuting ID • Serial Endosymbiosis • Stromatolites • Taxonomy Phylogeny • Virus • White Sites • Diagrams & Tables • Eubacteria & Archaea • Molecule • Molecular Paths • Pathways • Photosynthesis • Black Sites • Endosymbiosis • Organics •
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