Collagen

This accession number P02461 refers to what protein? What diseases are associated with this protein?
What domains are present? How large is the protein? What tissues is it associated with?

Question?

What proportion of the human genome is taken up by metabolic enzymes?

snRNPs in spliceosome.

The pre-RNA in eukaryotes is subjected to excision of the introns and ligation of the exons, resulting in formation of a continuous reading frame from encoding from the N- terminal to C-terminal end of the polypeptide. This process involves the transient formation of an organelle called the spliceosome The classical spliceosome contains five small nuclear Ribonucleoproteins, snRNPs (U1,2,4,5,6), that form a the spliceosome. The identification of excision points and ligation points along the RNA is provided for by specific RNA sequences in the mRNA code. There are three such sites, that denote an intron; the 5" splice site, 3" splice site and the branch point. Each snRNP contains a snRNA (small nuclear RNA) and at least 7 protein subunits.

What is the function of the snRNAs in the snRNP?
What are the roles the proteins play in the biological activity of the spliceosome?

Fun question

If you we a protein, which protein would you be, and why?

From DNA to mRNA (and beyond)

The conversion of DNA to a function mobile form of biological information (messenger RNA) requires multiple steps of sequential molecular interactions and modification. DNA is used as a templet for synthesizing  a single strand of RNA. There are similarities to DNA replication and numerous differences. We will focus on the most complicated form of this conversion process, that found in eukaryotic systems. Keep is mind this is a very ancient process that started billions of years ago.

The first phase of this conversion in eukaryotes, is in the synthesis of a pre-mRNA, sometimes called heterogenous nuclear RNA. This has no biological activity and needs to be modified extensively to produce a biologically active molecular capable to effectively transporting  the information in a usable form to the cytoplasm, for use in translation.

The conversion of pre-mRNA to mature mRNA requires three modifications to the molecule.
1.) A 5 prime cap structure is added, this is a docking signal structure for binding of the small subunit of the ribosome. No 5' cap= No translation.
2.) A 3 prime poly adenylate tail is added, this structure also plays a role in ribosome binding but he major role this structure plays is in mRNA stability.
3.) Creation of a continuous reading frame of code to provide a functional nucleotide template for a polypeptide sequence (complete "bioinformatic" sentence). This requires splicing of the relevant exons together.

These are really complicated processes but we will focus on a few key molecular components and look at how they operate to carrying the specific function they are responsible for in support of the larger process.


How much do you know of the the entire process? What are all of the jobs that need to be done that all together results in a functional mRNA ready for translation?

Proteins involved in the biosynthesis of proteins.

Proteins need to be polymerized, folded and covalently modified in a number of ways. Lets discuss the type of proteins that are needed for these processes. Think about what problems the cell needs to solve to produce biologically active structure. Start with the ribosome. and those proteins involved with peptide bond formation.

Molecular circuits?

What comes to mind when you hear the term "molecular circuits"?