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Transfer RNA Synthesis Lab Report

Decent Essays

Aminoacyl transfer RNA synthetases catalyze the formation of “charged” transfer RNA. This means the Aminoacyl transfer RNA synthtaseses attach an amino acid to the transfer RNA. A specific aminoacyl transfer RNA synthestase binds a specific amino acid and a molecule of Adenosine triphosphate to the active site. The bond is broken between the amino acid and Adeonsine monophosphate and the Adenosine monophosphate is then released. At the same time, a covalent bond is formed between the amino acid and the 3’ end of the transfer RNA. A specific transfer RNA has an anticodon that corresponds to the amino acid then binds to the synthetase. The RNA sequence in the anticodon region, as well as other parts of the transfer RNA molecule, are important …show more content…

The first being, the attachment of a given amino acid to a specific transfer RNA establishes the translation of the genetic code. The genetic code has several important properties, without these properties life could not exist. When an amino acid is linked to a transfer RNA, it will be assimilated into a growing peptide chain at a location ordained by the anticodon of the transfer RNA. The second reason the linkage of an amino acid to a transfer RNA is so important is, the formation of a peptide bond between amino acids is not thermodynamically favorable. The amino acids need to be activated for the reaction to continue, once activated they are amino acid esters. These intermediates have the carboxyl group linked to either the 2′- or the 3′-hydroxyl group of the ribose unit at the 3′ end of tRNA. This is called the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase. Tyrosyl tRNA synthetase is a dimeric enzyme, that is comprised of two indistinguishable sub-units. Tyrosyl transfer RNA synthetase catalyzes the formation of tyrosyl transfer RNA in a two-step reaction. Tyrosine is first activated by reaction with Adenosine triphosphate. This forms the enzyme bound intermediate, tyrosine adenylate. Although the enzyme is a dimer, only one molecule of tyrosine is bound per

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