Strings 2008 1 1

1 Background: Biological sequences

• DNA, RNA, protein
  • universal molecules of life (from tiny micro-organisms to large mammals)
  • state the chemical structure of DNA, RNA and protein
    • DNA: 4 nucleotides, double helix, base pairing
    • RNA: 4 nucleotides, single stranded
    • protein: 20 amino acids, complex 3D structure
• central dogma of molecular biology
  • = transfer of sequence information from DNA (mastercopy) to RNA (blueprint) to protein (construct)
  • introduce terminology: transcription and translation
  • universal code of life (from tiny micro-organisms to large mammals)
  • introduce the concepts of reading frames and reverse compliment
• evolution and tree of life
  • discuss how organisms are related (evolution) and how this relations can be represented (tree of life)

Reading material:

Chapter 1 from Zvelebil and Baum's Understanding bioinformatics

goto Comparing sequences