BASICS ON MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
Ŷ Cell – DNA – RNA – protein
Ŷ Sequencing methods
Ŷ arising questions for handling the data, making sense of it
Ŷ next two week lectures: sequence alignment and genome assembly
Cells
• Fundamental working units of every living system.
• Every organism is composed of one of two radically different types of
cells: – prokaryoticcells
– eukaryotic cells which have DNA inside a nucleus.
• Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes are descended from primitive cells and the
results of
3.5 billion years of evolution.
, Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes
• According to the most recent evidence, there are three
main branches to the tree of
life
• Prokaryotes include Archaea
(“ancient ones”) and bacteria
• Eukaryotes are kingdom Eukarya and includes plants, animals, fungi and
certain algae
Lecture: Phylogenetic trees,
this topic in more detail
All Cells have common Cycles
• Born, eat, replicate, and die
2
, Common features of organisms
• Chemical energy is stored in ATP
• Genetic information is encoded by DNA
• Information is transcribed into RNA
• There is a common triplet genetic code
– some variations are known, however
• Translation into proteins involves ribosomes
• Shared metabolic pathways
• Similar proteins among diverse groups of organisms
All Life depends on 3 critical molecules
• DNAs (Deoxyribonucleic acid)
3
, – Hold information on how cell works
• RNAs (Ribonucleic acid)
– Act to transfer short pieces of information to different
parts of cell
– Provide templates to synthesize into protein
• Proteins
– Form enzymes that send signals to other cells and regulate
gene activity
– Form body’s major components
4
Ŷ Cell – DNA – RNA – protein
Ŷ Sequencing methods
Ŷ arising questions for handling the data, making sense of it
Ŷ next two week lectures: sequence alignment and genome assembly
Cells
• Fundamental working units of every living system.
• Every organism is composed of one of two radically different types of
cells: – prokaryoticcells
– eukaryotic cells which have DNA inside a nucleus.
• Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes are descended from primitive cells and the
results of
3.5 billion years of evolution.
, Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes
• According to the most recent evidence, there are three
main branches to the tree of
life
• Prokaryotes include Archaea
(“ancient ones”) and bacteria
• Eukaryotes are kingdom Eukarya and includes plants, animals, fungi and
certain algae
Lecture: Phylogenetic trees,
this topic in more detail
All Cells have common Cycles
• Born, eat, replicate, and die
2
, Common features of organisms
• Chemical energy is stored in ATP
• Genetic information is encoded by DNA
• Information is transcribed into RNA
• There is a common triplet genetic code
– some variations are known, however
• Translation into proteins involves ribosomes
• Shared metabolic pathways
• Similar proteins among diverse groups of organisms
All Life depends on 3 critical molecules
• DNAs (Deoxyribonucleic acid)
3
, – Hold information on how cell works
• RNAs (Ribonucleic acid)
– Act to transfer short pieces of information to different
parts of cell
– Provide templates to synthesize into protein
• Proteins
– Form enzymes that send signals to other cells and regulate
gene activity
– Form body’s major components
4
