Question

The textbook presents a very simple, linear scheme of the central dogma of molecular biology (text page 500), but is explicit in noting the simplicity of the original concept and exceptions to it. Which of the following would NOT be reasonable additions or modifications that could be made to this simple linear scheme to account for experimental data?

The textbook presents a very simple, linear scheme of the central dogma of molecular biology (text page 500), but is explicit in noting the simplicity of the original concept and exceptions to it. Which of the following would NOT be reasonable additions or modifications that could be made to this simple linear scheme to account for experimental data?

A. The arrow between DNA and RNA could be reversible.
B. The word "protein" should be made plural (i.e., "proteins").
C. The scheme could be made circular by adding an arrow connecting "protein" to "DNA replication."
D. RNA can be used to generate RNA-based enzymes (ribozymes), so "protein" at the end of the scheme should be changed to "protein/RNA."

Answer 1

The central dogma of the molecular biology is described as

DNA → RNA → Protein

Now the arrow between the RNA and the DNA cannot be reversible because practically it does not happen. When the RNA polymerase the enzyme binds to the DNA strand, and the mRNA is made up and whether the protein is for beneficial or not, the mRNA cannot move back to the DNA. Therefore, it cannot be reversible.

For protein name should be made plural

At time, The DNA is transcribed to the mRNA and also one mRNA is transferred to the single protein. If there are more than one protein, then they would be coming from the different mRNAs.

The definition of the central dogma ends at the protein. There is no circular process as the different genes can be transcribed and also translated to the different proteins.