| A | B |
|---|
| nucleotide | monomer of nucleic acids made up of a deoxyribose sugar, a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous base |
| base pairing | bonds can only form between certain base pairs - A and T and G and C |
| chromatin | consists of DNA tightly coiled around proteins |
| histone | protein molecule around which DNA is tightly coiled |
| genetics | the scientific study of heredity |
| replication | copying process in which DNA is duplicated |
| DNA polymerase | enzyme involved in DNA replication that joins individual nucleotides and proofreads each new DNA strand |
| genes | coded DNA instructions that control the production of proteins within the cell |
| mRNA | RNA molecules that carry copies of the instructions found on DNA |
| rRNA | make up ribosomes - the site of protein synthesis |
| tRNA | transfers each amino acid to the ribosome |
| transcription | RNA molecules are produced by copying part of nucleotide sequence of DNA into a complementary sequence in RNA |
| RNA polymerase | enzyme involved in transcription |
| introns | sequences of DNA not involved in coding for proteins |
| exons | DNA sequences that code for proteins |
| codon | three consecutive nucleotides that speicify a single amino acid |
| translation | process in which the cell uses information form mRNA to produce proteins |
| anticodon | three unpaired bases on tRNA that are complementary to one mRNA codon |
| mutation | changes in the DNA |
| gene mutation | changes in one or a few nucleotides |
| chromosomal mutation | changes in the structure of chromosomes |
