| Term | Definition |
|---|
| virulent | describes a microorganism that causes disease and that is highly infectious; strictly, refers only to viruses that reproduce from the lytic cycle |
| transformation | the transfer of genetic material in the form of DNA fragments from one cell to another or from one organism to another |
| bacteriophage | a virus that infects bacteria |
| nucleotide | in a nucleic-acid chain, a subunit that consists of a sugar, a phosphate, and a nitrogenous base |
| deoxyribose | a five-carbon sugar that is a component of DNA molecules |
| nitrogenous base | an organic base that contains nitrogen, such as a purine or pyrimidline; a subunit of a nucleotide in DNA and RNA |
| purine | a nitrogenous base that has a double-ring structure; one of the two general categories of nitrogenous bases found in DNA and RNA; either adenine or guanine |
| pyrimidine | a nitrogenous base that has a single-ring structure; one of the two general categories of nitrogenous bases found in DNA and RNA; thymine, cytosine, or uracil |
| base pairing rules | the rules stating that cytosine pairs with guanine and adenine pairs with thymine in DNA, and adenine pairs with uracil in RNA |
| complementary base pair | the nucleotide bases in one strand of DNA or RNA that are paired with those of another strand |
| base sequence | the order of the nitrogenous bases on a chain of DNA |
| DNA replication | the process of makinf a copy of DNA |
| helicase | an enzyme that separates DNA strands |
| replication fork | a Y-shaped point that results when the two strandes of a DNA double helix separate so that the DNA molecule can be replicated |
| DNA polymerase | an enzyme that catalyzes the formation of the DNA molecule |
| semi-conservatice replication | in each new DNA double helix, one strand is from the original molecule,and one strand is new |
| mutation | a change in the nucleotide-base sequence of a gene or DNA molecule |
| RNA | a natrual polymer that is present in all living cells and that plays a role in protein synthesis |
| transcription | the process of forming a nucleic acid by using another molecule as a template; particulary the process of synthesizing RNA by using one strand of a DNA molecule as a template |
| translation | the portion of protein synthesis that takes place at ribosomes and that uses the codons on mRNA molecules to specify the sequence of amino acids in polypeptide chains |
| protein synthesis | the formation of proteins by using information contained in DNA and carried by mRNA |
| ribose | a five-carbon sugar present in RNA |
| mRNA (messenger RNA) | a single-stranded RNA molecule that encodes the information to make a protein |
| tRNA (transfer RNA) | an RNA molecule that transfers amino acids to the growing end of a polypeptide chain during translation |
| RNA polymerase | an enzyme that starts (catalyzes) the formation of RNA by using a strand of a DNA molecule as a template |
| promoter | a nucleotide sequence on a DNA molecule to which an RNA polymerase molecule binds, which initiates the transcription of a specific gene |
| termination signal | a specific sequence of nucleotides that marks the end of a gene |
| genetic code | the rule that describes how a sequence of nucleotides, read in groups of three consecutive nucleotides (triplets) that correspond to specific amino acids, specifies the amino acid sequence of a protein |
| codon | in DNA, a three-nucleotide sequence that encodes an amino acid or signifies a start signal or a stop signal |
| anticodon | a region of tRNA that consistsof three bases complementary to the codon of mRNA |
| genome | the complete genetic material contained in an individual |
| rRNA (ribosomal RNA) | an organelle that contains most of the RNA in the cell and that is responsible for ribosome function |
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