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Molecular Biology 2 - Proteins & DNA

Proteins are probably the most important molecules. They are also extensively studied, so we will explore this more than carbohydrates and lipids. Hopefully in enough detail so that most experiments will make sense.

DNA determines protein sequence and amount. Also, most of the manipulations in a lab are done at the DNA level. So DNA will be the most intensively studied, and in the most detail.

MolBio 2 companion questions

Proteins Learning objectives

  • Know the functions of proteins
  • Know that proteins are composed of amino acids
  • Know the constant and variable portions of amino acids
  • Know that amino acids are connected by covalent peptide bonds
  • Know the labeling of peptides (N-ter, C-ter, di- / tri- / poly-)
  • Know that the most dominant bond for protein shape are hydrogen bonds
  • Understand why shape changes so easily in proteins
  • Understand that shape = function and how matching shapes is specific


Nucleic acids learning objectives 

  • Know the difference between DNA and RNA
  • Know the nucleotides
  • Know the various ways to express
    • numbers of phosphates
    • NTP vs dNTP
    • contextually what GCAT  and GCAU are
  • Know that individual dNTPs (or NTPs) are the substrate and dNMPs (or NMPs) are the product in the chain.
  • Be able to write the complementary strand of DNA
  • Be able to convert DNA into RNA