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B2- NUCLEIC ACIDS > 2.1- STRUCTURE OF RNA AND DNA > Flashcards

2.1- STRUCTURE OF RNA AND DNA Flashcards

1
Q

What are nucleic acids?

A

group of most important molecules of which best known are RNA and DNA

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2
Q

What does RNA stand for?

A

ribonucleic acid

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3
Q

What does DNA stand for?

A

deoxyribonucleic acid

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4
Q

What structure of DNA makes it immediately recognisable?

A

double helix structure

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5
Q

What does DNA do?

A

carries genetic information

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6
Q

What is DNA made up of?

A

nucleotides that have just three basic components

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7
Q

How many components does each nucleotide have?

A

three components

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8
Q

What are the three components of a nucleotide?

A

pentose sugar
phosphate group
nitrogen-containing organic base

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9
Q

Why is a pentose sugar called a pentose sugar?

A

it has 5 carbon atoms

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10
Q

What are the nitrogen-containing organic bases?

A

cytosine C, thymine T, uracil U, adenine A and guanine G

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11
Q

What is the pentose sugar, phosphate group and organic base joined as a result of?

A

condensation reactions

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12
Q

When the pentose sugar, phosphate group and organic base are joined by condensation reactions what does it form?

A

mononucleotide

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13
Q

How can two mononucleotides be joined?

A

through a condensation reaction

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14
Q

Where does the condensation reaction happen between two mononucleotides?

A

between the deoxyribose sugar and the phosphate group of another

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15
Q

What is the bond called that is formed between two mononucleotides?

A

phosphodiester bond

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16
Q

What is the new structure called when two mononucleotides are bonded?

A

dinucleotide

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17
Q

What does the continued linking of mononucleotides form?

A

a long chain known as a polynucleotide

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18
Q

What is ribonucleic acid?

A

polymer made up of nucleotides

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19
Q

Two characteristics of ribonucleic acid?

A

single, relatively short

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20
Q

What is always the pentose sugar of a ribonucleic acid?

A

always ribose

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21
Q

What are the organic bases of RNA?

A

adenine, guanine, cytosine and uracil

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22
Q

What does one type of RNA do?

A

transfers genetic information from DNA to the ribosomes

23
Q

What are the ribosomes themselves made up of?

A

made up of proteins and other types of RNA

24
Q

What is the third type of RNA involved in?

A

protein synthesis

25
Q

What did James Watson and Francis Crick do in 1953?

A

worked out the structure of DNA

26
Q

What did Rosalind Franklin do?

A

pioneering work on the X-ray diffraction patterns of DNA

27
Q

What is always the pentose sugar in DNA?

A

deoxyribose

28
Q

What are the organic bases on DNA?

A

adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine

29
Q

How many strands of nucleotides is DNA made up of?

A

two

30
Q

What is the length like of each of the strands on DNA?

A

extremely long

31
Q

How are the two strands on DNA joined?

A

by hydrogen bonds formed between certain bases

32
Q

What is the base pairing for adenine?

A

adenine and thymine

33
Q

What is the base pairing for guanine?

A

guanine and cytosine

34
Q

What is adenine said to be to thymine, and guanine to cytosine?

A

complementary

35
Q

What are the quantities of thymine and adenine like?

A

same

36
Q

What are the quantities of cytosine and guanine like?

A

same

37
Q

How is the two polynucleotide strands of DNA twisted?

A

uprights of phosphate and deoxyribose wind around one another

38
Q

What is formed when the uprights of phosphate and deoxyribose wind around each other?

A

double helix

39
Q

What importance does the phosphate and deoxyribose have?

A

form structural backbone of DNA molecule

40
Q

How is DNA a stable molecule? (2)

A

phosphodiester backbone protects more chemically reactive organic bases inside double helix

hydrogen bonds link organic base pairs forming bridges between phosphodiester uprights.

41
Q

How many hydrogen bonds are there between cytosine and guanine?

A

three hydrogen bonds

42
Q

What would a higher proportion of C-G pairings mean?

A

more stable the DNA molecule

43
Q

What else is there between the base pairs holding the molecule together?

A

other interactive forces

44
Q

What is the function of DNA?

A

hereditary material responsible for passing genetic information from cell to cell and generation to generation

45
Q

In the DNA of a typical mammalian cell, what is approximately the total number of base pairs?

A

3.2 billion pairs

46
Q

What does the vast number of base pairs in a typical mammalian cell mean?

A

there’s an almost infinite variety of sequences of bases along the length of a DNA molecule

47
Q

What does the variety of sequences of bases along the length of a DNA molecule provide?

A

genetic diversity within living organisms

48
Q

How is the DNA molecule adapted to carry out its functions? (5)

A

very stable

two separate strands only joined with hydrogen bonds

extremely long molecule

base pairs within helical cylinder of deoxyribose-phosphate backbone

base pairings leads to DNA being able to replicate + transfer information as mRNA

49
Q

Why is DNA being very stable good?

A

normally passes from generation to generation without change- rarely mutates

50
Q

Why is the two strands of DNA being joined by hydrogen bonds only good?

A

allows them to separate during DNA replication and protein synthesis

51
Q

Why is DNA being an extremely long molecule good?

A

means it carries an immense amount of genetic information

52
Q

Why is the base pairs within the helical cylinder of the deoxyribose-phosphate backbone good?

A

genetic information is to some extent protected from being corrupted by outside chemical and physical forces

53
Q

What does the function of DNA depend on?

A

sequence of base pairs that is possesses

54
Q

Why is the sequences of base pairs the DNA possesses important?

A

sequence is important to everything it does and to life itself

B2- NUCLEIC ACIDS (4 decks)

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