Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: It is easy to see how biotechnology can be used for medicinal purposes. Knowledge of the genetic makeup of our species, the genetic basis of heritable diseases,…
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: Biotechnology is the use of artificial methods to modify the genetic material of living organisms or cells to produce novel compounds or to perform new functions. Biotechnology has…
Figure 10.1 (a) A thermal cycler, such as the one shown here, is a basic tool used to study DNA in a process called the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The polymerase enzyme most often used with PCR comes from a strain of…
The Structure of DNA The model of the double-helix structure of DNA was proposed by Watson and Crick. The DNA molecule is a polymer of nucleotides. Each nucleotide is composed of a nitrogenous base, a five-carbon sugar (deoxyribose), and a…
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: For a cell to function properly, necessary proteins must be synthesized at the proper time. All organisms and cells control or regulate the transcription and translation of…
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: The synthesis of proteins is one of a cell’s most energy-consuming metabolic processes. In turn, proteins account for more mass than any other component of living organisms…
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: In both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, the second function of DNA (the first was replication) is to provide the information needed to construct the proteins necessary so that…
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: When a cell divides, it is important that each daughter cell receives an identical copy of the DNA. This is accomplished by the process of DNA replication.…
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: In the 1950s, Francis Crick and James Watson worked together at the University of Cambridge, England, to determine the structure of DNA. Other scientists, such as Linus…
Figure 9.1 Dolly the sheep was the first cloned mammal. Chapter Outline 9.1 The Structure of DNA 9.2 DNA Replication 9.3 Transcription 9.4 Translation 9.5 How Genes Are Regulated The three letters “DNA” have now become associated with crime solving, paternity testing, human identification, and genetic testing.…