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Gene and the cell terminology

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Term
Definition
Replication   The process of duplicating DNA before cell division  
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Polymerase   An enzyme that synthesizes long chains of nucleic acid by adding nucleotides to the 3' end of the primer  
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Helicase   A protein that uses energy from ATP hydrolysis to unwind DNA  
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Ligase   The enzyme that catalyzes the final phosphodiester linkage between DNA fragments  
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Primase   The enzyme that sythesises the primer DNA one nucleotide at a time  
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Primer   A starter strand of RNA that is complementary to the DNA template  
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Leading Strand   Made by continuous synthesis from a single primer  
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Lagging Strand   Made by synthesis of Okazaki fragments from multiple primers  
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Replication Origin   Where the replication begins. Eukaryotes have many origins of replication  
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Telomere   A repetitive sequence of bases at the end of chromosomes that protects the sequence of bases  
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PCR   Polymerase Chain Reaction is a technique used to amplify segments of DNA by a few orders of magnitude, generating thousands of copies of the sequence  
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Chain Termination   When dideoxynucleotides block DNA synthesis  
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Template   An original strand of DNA to be replicated  
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Reverse Compliment   The contents of the opposing strand of DNA to the one in question  
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Quality Score   A measure of the quality of the identification of the nucleobases generated by DNA sequences  
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Deoxynucleotide   The structure that makes up a strand of DNA when repeated  
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Dideoxynucleotide   Chain-elongating inhibitors of DNA polymerase  
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Base pair   Two nucleobases bound together by hydrogen bonds  
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Central Dogma   "DNA makes RNA makes protein"  
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DNA   A molecule carrying the genetic information of a molecule  
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RNA   A molecule involved in coding, recoding, regulation and expression of genes  
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Promoter   The region of DNA that initiates transcription of a particular gene  
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Transcription start site   The location where transcription starts at the 5' end of a gene sequence  
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Termination Site   A section of the nucleic acid sequence which marks the end of the gene or operon  
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Core RNA polymerase   The subunits of RNA polymerase needed for catalytic activity. It does not have a sigma factor  
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Holo RNA polymerase   Contains the sigma subunit which decreases affinity for non-specific DNA and increases affinity for promoters  
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Sigma Factor   A protein needed only for the initiation of RNA synthesis  
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Promoter Recognition   Transcription factors recognizing and recruiting RNA polymerase and bind it to the promoter  
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Closed complexes   When RNA polymerase binds to promoter DNA (Two Strands)  
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Open Complexes   The combination of one strand of DNA and one strand of RNA polymerase  
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Core Promoter   The minimal DNA sequence which directs accurate initiation of transcription  
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Distal Regulatory elements   Enhancers, inhibitor, silencers and locus control regions located far away from the genes they control  
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General (basal) transcription factors (eg. TFIID, TFIIB)   Transcription factors that bind to promoters to activate transcription from DNA to mRNA  
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Enhancers   Region of DNA that increases the likelihood a particular gene will be transcribed  
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Activators   A protein that binds to an enhancer that increases transcription of a particular gene  
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CTD of Pol II   C-terminal repeat domain is an extension of the C-terminus of an RNA subunit and acts as a binding scaffold for nuclear factors  
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Splice site   The point at which an intron is spiced out of the code  
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Intron   A noncoding sequence of genetic material  
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Exon   A coding section of genetic material  
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Complimentary Strand   DNA synthesized from a single stranded RNA molecule  
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Splicesome   A molecular machine that removes introns from pre-mRNA  
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Gene expression   The process from which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product  
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5' cap   A specially altered nucleotide on the 5' end of pre-mRNA and helps create stable and mature mRNA that can be translated  
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poly A tail   100-300 A bases which may be important in export from the nucleus and help stabilize mRNA  
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Operon   Linked genes which regulate other genes responsible for protein synthesis  
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Transcription regulatory protein   Activators and Repressors which decide which genes are transcribed and when  
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Inducer   A compound which induces protein synthesis  
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Regulatory sequence   A segment of nucleic acid sequence capable of increasing or decreasing the expression of specific genes within an organism  
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polycistronic mRNA   An mRNA that codes for several proteins. Common in bacteria and chloroplasts  
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Constitutive   Made at a constant rate  
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Inducible   Needs an inducer to begin synthesis  
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Catabolite Repression   Inhibition of the synthesis of enzymes involved in catabolism of carbon sources other than the preferred one  
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Consensus Sequences   The calculated order of the most frequent residues found at each position of a sequence alignment  
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Structural gene   Genes that encode proteins  
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Regulatory gene   Controls the expression of one or more other genes  
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Sequence specific transcription factor   A protein that binds to specific DNA sequences to control the rate of transcription  
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Enhanceosome   A protein complex created at the enhancer that regulates expression of a target gene  
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DNA binding domain   An independently folded protein domain with a structural motif that recognises DNA  
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Dimerization domain   A specialized domain in a protein that ensures dimerization  
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Activation Domain   A transcription factor scaffold domain that has binding sites for other proteins  
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Cooperativity   When the attachment of a specific molecule increases affinity for other similar molecules  
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Epigenetics   The study of heritable changes in gene function that do not involve changes in the DNA sequence  
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5'-methylcytosine   The methylated form of cytosine which may be involved in the regulation of transcription  
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DNA methyltransferase   An enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of a methyl group to DNA  
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CpG islands   Regions with a high frequency of CpG sites  
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Chromatin modification   Modifications function either by disrupting chromatin contacts or by affecting the recruitment of nonhistone proteins to chromatin  
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Chromatin remodelling   The dynamic modification of chromatin architecture to allow access of condensed genomic DNA to the regulatory transcription machinery proteins, and thereby control gene expression.  
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Nucleosome   The fundamental subunit of chromatin  
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Histone code   The transcription of Dna is partially regulated by chemical changes in histone proteins  
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Histone acetylase   When lysine residues protruding from the histone core of the nucleosome are acetylated  
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Histone deacetylase   When lysine residues protruding from the histone core of the nucleosome are deacetylated  
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Euchromatin   Lightly packed form of chromatin enriched in genes  
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Heterochromatin   Tightly packed DNA  
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Insulators/boundary elements   An insulator is a genetic boundary element that blocks the interaction between enhancers and promoters  
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Genomic Imprinting   An epigenetic phenomenon that causes genes to be expressed in a parent-of-origin-specific manner  
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Translation   mRNA is decoded to produce amino acids  
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Ribosome   The site of protein synthesis  
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Amino Acid   The triplet codons that code for specific proteins  
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Genetic Code   The genetic code is the set of rules by which information encoded in genetic material is translated into proteins  
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Redundancy   When codons code for more than one amino acid  
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mRNA   Messenger ribonucleic acid. They convey genetic information fro DNA to the ribosome  
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tRNA   Transfer RNA that serves as a link between amino acids and the mRNA  
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rRNA   Ribosomal RNA is the RNA component of the ribosome and is essential for protein synthesis  
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codon   A sequence of DNA or RNA that corresponds to a particular amino acid or stop signal during protein synthesis  
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Anticodon   A sequence of three nucleotides forming a unit of genetic code in a tRNA molecule corresponding to a complementary mRNA codon  
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Charged (aminoacyl)-tRNA   tRNA to which its cognated amino acid is chemically bonded  
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Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase   An enzyme that attaches the appropriate amino acid onto its tRNA  
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Wobble base   A pairing between two nucleotides in RNA that do not follow standard base pairing rules  
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Peptide bond formation   a chemical bond formed between two molecules when the carboxyl group of one molecule reacts with the amino group of the other molecule. It is a condensation reaction  
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Start codon   The first codon of an mRNA transcript translated by the ribosome  
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Stop codon   Image result for stop codonwww.chegg.com Stop codons are sequences of DNA and RNA that are needed to stop translation or the making of proteins  
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A-site   Binding site for charged tRNA molecules during protein synthesis  
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P-site   The second binding site for tRNA in the ribosome  
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Translocation   A chromosome abnormality caused by rearrangement of parts between nonhomologous chromosomes  
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Ribosome binding site   A sequence of nucleotides upstream of the start codon of an mRNA transcript that is responsible for the recruitment of a ribosome during the initiation of protein translation.  
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f-met-tRNA^met   The aminoacyl-tRNA that initiates bacterial protein synthesis  
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Initiation factor   Proteins that bind to the small subunit of the ribosome during the initiation of translation  
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Elongation factors   A set of proteins that are used in protein synthesis in the process of cell cycle and elongation in some cells  
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Peptidyl transferase activity   The primary enzymatic function of the ribosome, which forms peptide bonds between adjacent amino acids using tRNAs during the translation process  
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Alpha carbon   The first carbon atom that attaches to a functional group Peptide bond  
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N-terminal amine   The start of a protein or polypeptide referring to the free amine group located at the end of the polypeptide  
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C-terminal carboxyl   The end of an amino acid chain, terminated by a free carboxyl group  
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Peptide   Short chains of amino acid monomers linked by peptide (amide) bonds  
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Side chain   A chemical group that is attached to a core part of the molecule called "main chain" or backbone  
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Posttranslational modification   The covalent and generally enzymatic modification of proteins during or after protein biosynthesis  
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Phosphorylation   A post-translational modification of proteins in which an amino acid residue is phosphorylated by a protein kinase  
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Propeptide   An inactive protein (or peptide) that can be turned into an active form by post-translational modification  
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Motif   Short, recurring patterns in DNA that are presumed to have a biological function  
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Point mutation   A mutation affecting only one or very few nucleotides in a gene sequence.  
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Missense   A missense mutation is a point mutation in which a single nucleotide change results in a codon that codes for a different amino acid  
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Nonsense   A mutation in which a sense codon that corresponds to one of the twenty amino acids specified by the genetic code is changed to a chain-terminating codon.  
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Silent mutation   Mutations in DNA that do not significantly alter the phenotype of the organism in which they occur  
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Frameshift mutation   The deletion or insertion of a base shifts the code and makes it incorrect  
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Chromosomal rearrangement   A mutation involving a long segment of DNA  
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Single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP)   Single nucleotide polymorphisms, are the most common type of genetic variation among people. Each SNP represents a difference in a single DNA building block, called a nucleotide.  
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Genetic Marker   A gene or DNA sequence with a known location on a chromosome that can be used to identify individuals or species  
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Tumour supressor   A tumor suppressor gene, or antioncogene, is a gene that protects a cell from one step on the path to cance  
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Oncogene   A gene that has the potential to cause cancer  
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Gene therapy   The therapeutic delivery of nucleic acid into a patient's cells as a drug to treat disease  
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binding   DNA-binding proteins are proteins composed of DNA-binding domains and have an affinity for either single or double stranded DNA  
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