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Senanu's Bio class

Translation activity

For this activity, we will be using the “3-D Molecular Designs Flow of Genetic Information Kit”.

In your kit, please find the following items (put the rest back in the box)

  • Translation of RNA into Proteins placemat
  • Sequence I Translation mRNA strip
  • 4 bags of RNA nucleotides (these have a square shape; white = Uracil, green = Guanine, red = Adenine, blue = Cytosine)
  1. Begin by fully assembling the mRNA sequence as it is shown on the paper strip.
    1. Notice the 3’ and 5’ directionality of the mRNA
    2. Which is the 3’ end and which is the 5’ end of each nucleotide?
  2. Place your assembled RNA on the right of the placemat. Slide it toward the left.
  3. Translation will happen in the ribosome.
  4. Prepare each of the tRNAs by ‘charging’ them with the appropriate amino acid at the top of each tRNA.
    1. The RNA sequence at the bottom of the tRNAs is called the ‘anticodon’.
  5. Move the mRNA into the ribosome until the sequence ‘AUG’ is in the P site of the ribosome.
    1. No translation occurs before the ‘AUG’ codon.
  6. Find the tRNA with the anticodon ‘UAC’. This anticodon is complementary to the start codon ‘AUG’ which is now in the P site.
  7. Check that the tRNA is complementary to the ‘AUG’ codon by attaching it to the mRNA.
  8. Find the next tRNA that is complementary to the next 3-base codon. Move it into the A site.
  9. Disconnect the amino acid from the tRNA in the P site and attach it to the tRNA in the A site. At the same time, move the mRNA to the right so that the tRNA moves from the P site to the E (exit) site.
  10. Allow the tRNA in the E site to leave the ribosome.
  11. Find the next tRNA that is complementary to the sequence in the A site.
  12. Continue moving tRNA into the A site, connecting the amino acids, and advancing the ribosome along the mRNA.
  13. After you have repeated this a few times, notice that the codon on the mRNA matches specific amino acids. The amino acid specified by the codon is given in the genetic code codon table.