My OpenLearn Profile
Personalise your OpenLearn profile, save your favourite content and get recognition for your learning
Free course
What do genes do?
Free statement of participation on completion
This free course, What do genes do?, explores how information contained in DNA is used, explaining the flow of information from DNA to RNA to protein. Also introduced are the concepts of transcription (as occurs between DNA and RNA) and translation.
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
- understand how the linear sequence of DNA within a gene is related to the linear sequence of amino acids of a protein
- understand how the information in DNA is carried via RNA to make a protein
- understand how RNA is synthesised from DNA by the process of transcription
- understand where the processes of transcription and translation occur within the cell.
First Published: 09/08/2012
Updated: 01/08/2017
Skip Rate and Review
Rate and Review
Create an account to get more
Track your progress
Review and track your learning through your OpenLearn Profile.
Statement of Participation
On completion of a course you will earn a Statement of Participation.
Access all course activities
Take course quizzes and access all learning.
Review the course
When you have finished a course leave a review and tell others what you think.
The course provided a reasonable coverage, though there are many sites, such as for A-Level revision, that cover the subject matter succinctly.
There were a few editorial issues:
1) 'About this free course'
www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/science/biology/what-do-genes-do/content-section-0
->
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/biology/what-do-genes-do/content-section-0
2) The Figures have 'View description' links, but they provide the same text, perhaps the links should be removed.
3) Given the usage of document formats such as MS Word, perhaps audio to text transcriptions could be provided for each video, as per the other OU courses.
4) The video in section 3 names DNA to mRNA as 'transcription', but the mapping from mRNA to protein does not have a 'translation' label, especially given the earlier text that highlighted both terms?
5) Section 5
a) 'one occurs after the other, as shown schematically in Figure 11.8'
...non-existent figure, perhaps Figure 2?
b) 'hence it’s name – messenger RNA' it’s -> its