tetracycline is an antibiotic that blocks trna from entering the ribosome and associating with mrna. if tetracycline were added to the cytoplasm of a eukaryotic cell, which types of proteins would be made?

Question

a. only proteins that function in the cytoplasm of the cell.
b. only proteins that will be exported outside of the cell.
c. no proteins will be made if trna cannot bind to mrna
d. only proteins that will be inserted into a membrane

Answer 1

The correct answer is a. Only proteins that function in the cytoplasm of the cell.

Tetracycline inhibits the binding of tRNA to the ribosome and prevents the association with mRNA, which is essential for protein synthesis. Since eukaryotic cells have compartmentalization and different protein synthesis machinery in different cellular regions, the absence of tRNA-mRNA association in the cytoplasm would only affect the synthesis of cytoplasmic proteins. Proteins that are targeted for export outside of the cell or insertion into membranes have different mechanisms in place, such as signal sequences and specific targeting factors, which are not affected by tetracycline.