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Protein formation
• mRNA travels to the cytoplasm where it meets the ribosome (rRNA) • Ribosome reads the code in the mRNA (codon) and form the amino
it is the DNA that has the command and control. • DNA is fixed code for a given human. (WORM characteristics)
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Life’s processes
• DNA is “program” that controls functions, operations and structure of a cell and in turn that of our life processes.
input codons and produces amino acids as output. • Amino acids polymerize and form polypeptide chains called
proteins • Proteins fold and form the basic structures such as skin and hair. • Even though brain controls major human functions at the cell level
in printed words, simply listing the first letter of each base would require over 1.5 million pages of text! • If laid end-to-end, the DNA strand measures about 2 – 3 meters. • DNA is a single large molecule at the nucleus of cell • It is coiled a double helix • Each strand of the DNA molecule is made of A, C, G and T: example: AAAGTTCTTAATTA that will be matched on the other strand by the matching base: TTTCAAGAATTAAT • These string of alphabets contain all the codes needed for the human functions • Ref text: Bioinformatics: Databases, tools and algorithms, by. O. Bosu and S.K. Thukral
10/11/• Sequence of base pairs are grouped to make sense: genes • When a gene inside needs to be activated, the DNA
molecule at the cell nucleus uncoils and unfurls to the right extent to expose that gene • From the exposed ends of the DNA a RNA is formed. • mRNA or messenger RNA is formed that carries with it the “print” of the open DNA section • RNA and DNA differ in one respect: RNA does not contain T or thymine but it has uracil (U). RNA is short-lived • Once mRNA is formed open sections of the DNA close off.
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Human cell
• Base pair of DNA: CG, AT
– C – cytosine, G – guanine, A – adenine , T - thymine
• Each human cell contains approximately 3 billion base pairs. • The DNA of a single cell contains so much information that if it were represented
Data-intensive Computing: Case Study Area 1: Bioinformatics
B. Ramamurthy
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Human Genetics
• Genomics • Human Genome project • Proteomics • Diseasome • Tree of life project • Phylogenetics
• Life processes are in fact dependent of the program in a DNA and the hundreds of millions of ribosomes.
acids. • Twenty amino acids are prevalent in human cells. Ex: codon GCU
GCC GCA correspond to alanine • In effect ribosome is a process control computer that takes in as