are numbered 1 to 100. Transcription begins with and includes the T/A (top strand/bottom
strand) base pair at position 7 (indicated by the arrow), and proceeds from left to right along the
DNA. Translation of the transcript yiclds the peptide of interest. 9. 20 20 30 e 0 50 51 60 70 80
90 100 What are the first 12 nucleotides of the resulting messenger RNA (mRNA)? Indicate the
5\' and 3\' ends of the mRNA. (a) (2 marks) Second Letter UUU Phe UC uCC Ser uUAC Leu
UCA cCU CCA UAA Stop UGA StopA UAG Stop lucG Trp CAU His CGU 1stCUA letter
AUU ACU AA Asn AGU Ser letter CCG CGG AGA Arg AUG Met ACG GUU GUA GAU
Asp GGUU GAG Glu GGA Gly GAA cu Gcu GCG
Solution
9. a. Transcription begins with and includes T/A (top strand and bottom strand) base pair at 7 and
proceeds from left to right.
so the template strand on which transcription takes place is the strand with 3\'
.......AGTCTAATGCAT........5\'
and the 1st 12 nucleotides of resulting mRNA are 5\'UCAGAUUACGUA 3\'
b. i) Based on the DNA sequence shown in the diagram the number of nitrogen bases from 7-
100 are 93 . so the number of codons are 93/3 as each codon is a triplet codon. so the number of
codons are 31. Each codon codes for one amino acid and hence there should be 31 amino acids
in the peptide. but the 71,72, 73 nitrogen bases are TAA in the 5\'-3\' strand and ATT in template
strand. So the mRNA has the codon UAA which is a stop codon and hence stops the translation
at 70th nucleotide.
so the translation takes place only till 70th nucleotide hence from 7-70 has 63 nucleotides or 63/3
=21 codons which code for 21 amino acids. the the peptide has 21 amino acids.
ii) The first four codons are UCA GAU UAC GUA
So the first four amino acids are: ser asp tyr val
iii) In a bacteriial strain A, there is an insertion of an extra C/G base pair immediately after 60. so
the reading frame changes, and it is called frameshift mutation or point mutation. The sequence
of nitrogen bases in the codon changes the sequnce of the amino acids. so there is change in the
amino acid in the peptide produced.
iv) In a bacterial strain B there is a substitution of A/T base pair at position 47 with a G/C base
pair. Hence A is substituted by G and T is substituted by C. That means a purine is substituted by
another purine and a pyrimidine is substituted by another pyrimidine. This kind of substitution
mutation is called Transition mutation. It changes the sequence of nucletides of a codon and
hence change the amino acid at that place of the peptide.