Question of the week_30 Mar

It was as if I am replying to fan mail but then that was just my imagination in brillant burst of colours.

Student from another class:

I remember in your genome lecture, you told us to change the label for the strand containing the 5'-TATAAT-3' sequence from coding to non-coding. But, isn't template=antisense=noncoding? So the 5'-TATAAT-3' sequence should correctly be on the coding strand, as in the given diagram. I know rj teachers say template=sense=coding, but it doesn't corroborate with textbooks and websites i refer to. The coding, aka sense strand, should be the strand that is identical in base sequence to the primary mRNA transcript, albeit T is replaced by U. I.e. coding=sense=non-template.

Reply

Your query is totally justifiable. In fact, I would have concurred with you on this one because that was exactly how I know the strand as: template-antisense-noncoding.
But there are actually two school of thoughts on this issue: template strand =antisense/sense

And I admit my inertia in the transmission of the altered information during lecture, but if I may refer you to your TYS, there are at least two questions N02 and J95 Q15/16 where the template strand is taken to be the sense strand and thus our stand in this issue. =)

Thus I would like to advise you to make reference to TEMPLATE STRAND when refering to DNA transcription etc for clarity and to be on the safe side :)

Cheers