Protein Synthesis Lab

In this lab, we asked the question: "how does the body produce proteins?" In the process of protein synthesis, RNA polymerase reads the DNA and transcribes it into a code for the messenger RNA (mRNA). Then, the RNA travels to the ribosomes. They bond, and the mRNA is read, each codon representing a specific protein. Finally, the protein is made based on the code read from the mRNA.

Frameshift mutation seemed to have the greatest effect on the proteins, and yes, it does matter where the mutation because an insertion or deletion near the beginning of the sequence can offset the entire rest of it, but one of these at the end might not do much. If the T was at the end, it would not have affected the sequence before it. However, in some cases, substitution can cause a huge change in protein as well.

In step 7, the mutation I chose was a simple substitution on the 6th base. A substitution at the end of a codon may seem like nothing at first, but the change was actually pretty massive. This simple substitution caused the second codon to go from a Tyr protein to a Stop protein. So effectively, the new sequence literally became just start-stop. Quite a difference with such a small substitution. And yes, of course, like always, the spot where the mutation occurs definitely matters when choosing the mutation that will create the biggest or smallest change.

Mutations can affect our lives because if a section of our DNA is deleted, inserted, or substituted for, it could cause a drastic change in the protein that is made, and in some cases, will cause some pretty significant changes in our phenotype. A mutation on a section of DNA that controls the proteins that make up eye color can cause heterochromia. In heterochromia, spots of irregular shape appear around the pupil that are a different color than the circular ring that is around it. Perhaps a mutation on the DNA caused a different protein to be made in the eye cells, which caused this variance in color.