1.     tRNA aminoacylation
a.     What is aminoacylation? Whereon the tRNA does it occur?
b.     Why is ATP required foraminoacylation? Why is the hydrolysis of PPi generated duringaminoacylation important?
c.      What is the significanceof the high-transfer potential of the ester bond created duringtRNA aminoacylation?
d.     Why is the specificity ofaminoacyl-tRNA synthetases important? How do these enzymes ensuretheir specificity?
e.     Are you familiar enough withamino acid side chains to answer questions about aminoacyl-tRNAsynthetase specificity? (e.g. how might similar amino acids likevaline, serine and threonine be distinguished?)
f.       Do you understandwhy there are differences in amino acid recognition betweenactivation and editing sites? And how those differences dictate thespecificity of the two different activities?
