Genomics For Dummies

• Chromosome – a tightly wound coil of DNA stored in the nucleus of all cells in the body
• Codon – a triplet of 3 nucleotide bases that codes for an amino acid
• DNA – a double helix carrying the genetic code present in all cells in the human body
• Epigenetics – the interaction between genes and the environment
• Exons – ‘coding’ DNA that enables the production of specific proteins
• Gene – a defined segment of DNA that encode specific proteins
• Gene Regulation – the process that determines which cells express which genes
• Genomics – the study of all the genes in our DNA
• Introns – ‘non-coding’ DNA that is removed by the process of splicing
• Polypeptide Chain – a chain of amino acids that folds to make a protein
• Proteins – large complex molecules that play critical roles in the body. They are structures made up of a polypeptide chain folded into a specific structure.
• Transcription – the process by which a single strand of a specific segment of DNA encoding a gene is copied (mRNA)
• Translation – the process by which mRNA is transformed to an amino acid chain, which then folds into a protein
• Splicing – the process by which introns are removed from an mRNA strand before translation can occur