Sickle-cell anemia is caused when one nucleotide is changed to another nucleotide in the hemoglobin gene. How does this one small change cause the life-threatening disease of sickle-cell anemia?
What will be an ideal response?
Substituting this one nucleotide changes the amino acid from glutamic acid codon to valine. Glutamic acid is a polar negatively charged amino acid whereas valine is a nonpolar. Even though it is only a single base change, the result is a major change in the amino acid that allows the hemoglobin protein to stick to other hemoglobin proteins that results in the sickling of the red blood cell.
You might also like to view...
Examine the photomicrograph on the right, taken using an oil-immersion objective, the highest practical magnification of a light microscope. (The final magnification is 770x.)
(a) Based on your observation, identify the kingdom to which the organism belongs. (b) Justify your answer.
Spirilli are Gram-negative bacteria that possess internal flagella, which cause the entire cell to twist in a corkscrew
pattern.
Indicate whether the statement is true or false.In the carbon cycle, ______ from the atmosphere is used in photosynthesis to synthesize carbon-containing organic molecules in a process called ______.
A. carbon dioxide; combustion B. carbon dioxide; carbon fixation C. hydrocarbons; oxidation D. hydrocarbons; cellular respiration
The fermentation pathway serves to recycle NADH back into NAD+.
a. true b. false