AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -RNA polymerase synthesizes an RNA strand complementary to a template DNA strand. It synthesizes the RNA strand in the 5’ to 3’ direction, while reading the template DNA strand in the 3’ to 5’ direction. The template DNA strand and RNA strand are antiparallel.

Detailed explanation-2: -All mRNAs are read in the 5´ to 3´ direction, and polypeptide chains are synthesized from the amino to the carboxy terminus. Each amino acid is specified by three bases (a codon) in the mRNA, according to a nearly universal genetic code.

Detailed explanation-3: -mRNA codons are read from 5’ to 3’, and they specify the order of amino acids in a protein from N-terminus (methionine) to C-terminus. Translation involves reading the mRNA nucleotides in groups of three; each group specifies an amino acid (or provides a stop signal indicating that translation is finished).

Detailed explanation-4: -Which way’s which? When we look at a sequence of DNA, we read it in the 5′-3′ direction. The relative positions of genes or other sites along a DNA strand can be described as upstream (towards the 5′ end) or downstream (towards the 3′ end).