Imagine that you and your colleagues are working in a lab to develop a protein synthesis system for a new type of synthetic cell. During your brainstorming sessions, you propose that polycistronic mRNA would be much more useful than mRNA that is only translated into one protein. This would allow for multiple proteins necessary for a particular function to be translated together. One of your colleagues says that is a good idea, but if you decide to go with polycistronic mRNA, you'd better make sure to use a prokaryotic translation system. Why might it be problematic to use a eukaryotic translation system with polycistronic mRNA?
a. Introns would always prevent translation of the mRNA.
b. Eukaryotic ribosomes initiate translation by binding to the 5?-cap, which is only at the end of the mRNA.
c. Prokaryotic ribosomes do not detach from mRNA when they reach a stop codon.
d. Eukaryotic start and stop codons are different from prokaryotic start and stop codons.
Ans: b. Eukaryotic ribosomes initiate translation by binding to the 5?-cap, which is only at the end of the mRNA.
You might also like to view...
Which of the following lines of evidence would best support your assertion that a particular plant is an angiosperm?
A) It produces seeds. B) It retains its fertilized egg within its archaegonium. C) It lacks gametangia. D) It undergoes alternation of generations. E) It produces gametes by mitosis rather than meiosis.
Which of the following is considered to be most
closely related to land plants? a. red algae b. chlorophytes c. charophytes d. trypanosomes e. all of these
After replication, chromosomes consist of how many molecules of DNA (assuming one chromatid is equal to one molecule of DNA)?
What will be an ideal response?
Sputum from a patient with a history of tuberculosis due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria is collected and sent to the microbiology lab for analysis. X-ray analysis and an acid-fast smear made from the sputum indicate that the patient has active tuberculosis. The physician has requested that the sputum be analyzed for pathogen load, but because colonies of Mycobacterium typically take between 3 to 8 weeks to appear on agar, results from traditional culture methods are often delayed. If you were the microbiologist in this case, what would you do?
A. Set up a traditional culture on the sputum, then use the colonies for real-time PCR with primers to Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA to quantify the pathogen load. B. Using the sputum, apply real-time PCR with primers to Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA to estimate the pathogen load, then follow up with a traditional culture. C. Set up a traditional culture on the sputum, then use the colonies for end-point PCR with primers to Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA to quantify the pathogen load. D. Using the sputum, apply end-point PCR with primers to Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA to estimate the pathogen load, then follow up with a traditional culture.