From Gene to Protein to Trait

Lab Brief #5

🎯 Your mission

Master the concept. Use it tomorrow.

⚡ The twist

Nature loves to surprise the careful watcher.

What you'll learn

A gene is a length of DNA whose bases are read in threes, and each triplet specifies one amino acid in a protein chain. Change a single base and you may change one amino acid, which may change the folded shape of the protein and therefore what it can do — the one substitution behind sickle-cell anaemia works exactly this way. Traits are not stored in DNA as such; proteins are specified, and traits follow from what those proteins do in the body.

Key words

triplet code
The reading of DNA bases in groups of three, each group specifying one amino acid.
protein
A folded chain of amino acids whose shape, set by its sequence, determines the job it can do.

Make a hypothesis first

Before you start: write down what you think will happen, and why.

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Think about what you just learned: say what "triplet code" and "protein" mean in your own words before you start.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Decode three short base sequences into amino acid chains using a codon table, then alter one base in each and decode again. Record which changes altered the amino acid and which did not, and explain why not every mutation changes the protein.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.

Question 1 of 3

DNA bases are read in groups of:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 3

A single base change causes sickle-cell anaemia by altering one:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 3 of 3

Why do some single-base changes have no effect on the protein?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🔬 The more you look, the more nature shows you.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 3 right.

Next: Sex-Linked Inheritance Follows Chromosome Size All lessons

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🌍 Where you see this in real life: This shows up in your everyday life more than you'd think.

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👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “What's the most surprising thing you learned today?”

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