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Biology > Bio Unit 1.5 - Nucleic Acids > Flashcards

Bio Unit 1.5 - Nucleic Acids Flashcards

1
Q

What are nucleic acids (a polymer) made out of?

A

Monomers called nucleotides

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2
Q

Three components of nucleotides

A

Phosphate group, pentose sugar, nitrogenous/organic base

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3
Q

Two groups of organic bases

A

Purine bases, pyramidine bases

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4
Q

What is the pentose sugar in RNA?

A

ribose

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5
Q

What is the pentose sugar in DNA?

A

deoxyribose

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5
Q

What do autotrophic organisms do?

A

Convert other forms of energy into chemical energy

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6
Q

Chemoautotrophic organisms

A

Bacteria and Archaea use energy from oxidation of electron donors

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7
Q

Photoautotrophic Organisms

A

Green plants use light energy in photosynthesis

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8
Q

Hetetrophic Organisms

A

Organisms that derive chemical energy from food

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9
Q

Molecule that makes energy available when needed is…

A

Adenosine Triphosphate

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10
Q

How much ATP do we make and break down everyday but how much does the body contain?

A

50 kg, 5g contained

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11
Q

When is ATP synthesised and broken down?

A

Synthesises when energy is made available, like in mitochondria
Broken down when energy is needed, such as in muscle contraction

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12
Q

What is ATP and its structure?

A

A nucleotides with base adenine, sugar ribose and three phosphate groups

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13
Q

What happens to ATP when energy is needed in a living organism?

A

ATPase hydrolyses bond between 2nd and 3rd phosphate groups in ATP making adenine diphosphate and an inorganic phosphate ion, releasing chemical energy

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14
Q

How much energy is released when every mole of ATP is hydrolysed and the bond is broken?

A

30.6kJ

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15
Q

What is the name of the ATP to ADP reaction that releases energy?

A

Exergonic

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16
Q

Is the ATP to ADP reaction reversible?

A

Yes

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17
Q

What happens in the condensation reaction between ADP and the inorganic phosphate ion?

A

Catalysed by ATP synthesise, ADP and inorganic phosphate ion combine to make ATP and water, requires energy input of 30.6kJ

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18
Q

What is the name of the reaction which makes ATP and water?

A

Endergonic

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19
Q

The addition of phosphate to ADP is called?

A

Phosphorylation

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20
Q

Where does ATP transfer energy from and to?

A

From energy rich compounds like glucose to cellular reactions where it is needed

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21
Q

What would uncontrolled release of energy from glucose do and what is the solution for this?

A

Produce a temperature increase that would destroy cells. Instead, living organisms release energy gradually in small steps called respiration, producing ATP

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22
Q

Why is the hydrolysis of ATP to ADP a better supplier of energy than the breakdown of glucose?

A

Involves a single reaction whereas breakdown of glucose involves may intermediates and takes longer for energy to be released

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23
Q

Why (in terms of enzymes) is ATP to ADP better then a glucose breakdown?

A

Only involves one enzyme, many needed to release energy from glucose

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24
Q

How much energy is released from ATP compared to glucose?

A

Energy released in small amounts but glucose contains large amounts of energy that is released all at once

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25
Q

Why does ATP providing a common source of energy for many different chemical reactions good?

A

Increases efficiency and control by the cell

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26
Q

What does ATP do in metabolic processes?

A

To build large complex molecules from smaller, simpler molecules such as DNA synthesis from nucleotides, proteins from amino acids

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27
Q

What is the role of ATP in active transport?

A

To change the shape of carrier proteins in membranes and allow molecules or ions to be moved against a concentration gradient

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27
Q

What is the role of ATP in secretion?

A

Helps with the packaging and transport of secretory products into vesicles in cells

28
Q

Structure of DNA (components)

A

2 polynucleotide strands wound round each other in a double helix, deoxyribose pentose sugar, four organic bases: guanine, cytosine, adenine, thymine

29
Q

What forms the backbone of DNA?

A

Deoxyribose sugar and phosphate groups on the outside of DNA molecules

30
Q

Complementary base pairings in DNA

A

A+T, C+G, hydrogen bonds join the bases and form complementary pairs
A+T joined by 2 hydrogen bonds
C+G joined by 3 hydrogen bonds
Hydrogen bonds maintain double helix shape

31
Q

What is DNA molecule coiled within?

A

Chromosome

32
Q

Direction of strands in DNA

A

Antiparallel

33
Q
A
34
Q

DNA is suited to its functions because…

A

Very stable molecule and information content passes unchanged through generations, large so carries a lot of genetic information, 2 strands able to separate as they are held by hydrogen bonds, genetic information protected by structure

35
Q

Structure of RNA

A

single stranded polynucleotide, pentose sugar ribose, bases adenine, guanine, uracil, cytosine

36
Q

Three types of RNA

A

messenger RNA, ribosomal RNA, transfer RNA

37
Q

mRNA

A

synthesised and carries genetic code from DNA to ribosomes in cytoplasm. Lengths of mRNA related to lengths of the genes from which they were transcribed

38
Q

rRNA

A

found in cytoplasm, ribosomes (site of translation of genetic code into protein) made from rRNA and protein

39
Q

tRNA

A

Folds so that there are base pairings forming complementary pairs
3’ end has base sequence CCA where specific amino acid carried by molecule is attached
Carries anticodon
Carries specific amino acids to ribosomes in protein synthesis

40
Q

Where is DNA in eukaryotes and prokaryotes?

A

Enclosed in nuclei, free in cytoplasm

41
Q

2 main roles of DNA are…

A

Replication and protein synthesis

42
Q

How does DNA help protein synthesis?

A

Sequence of bases represents information carried in DNA and determines sequence of amino acids in proteins

43
Q

Three possibilities of DNA replication

A

Dispersive, Semi conservative, Conservative

44
Q

Semi conservative replication

A

Parental double helix separates into two strands each of which acts as a template for synthesis of a new strand

45
Q

What’s the experiment that figured out semi conservative replication?

A

Meselson-Stahl Replication

46
Q

Stage 1 of semi conservative replication

A

Helices breaks hydrogen bonds holding base pairings together and DNA unwinds catalysed by helices and the two strands separate

47
Q

Stage 2 of semi conservative replication

A

Polymerase catalyses the condensation reaction between 5’ phosphate group of a free nucleotide and 3’OH on growing DNA chain.
Each chain acts as a template and free nucleotides are joined to their complementary bases

48
Q

Gene

A

A section of DNA on a chromosome which codes for a specific polypeptide

49
Q

What does the base sequence direct?

A

Which amino acids join together

50
Q

Three bases code for…

A

One amino acid

50
Q

Introns

A

Non coding nucleotide sequence in DNA and pre-mRNA that is removed from pre-mRNA to produce mature mRNA

51
Q

The genetic code is a …

A

Triplet code

51
Q

How many possible codes are there and how many amino acids are found in proteins?

A

64, 20

52
Q

Transcription (part of protein synthesis) - occurs in the nucleus

A

One strand of DNA acts as a template for the production of mRNA, a complementary section of part of a DNA sequence

52
Q

Exons

A

Coding region in the nucleotide sequence of DNA and pre-mRNA that remains present in mature mRNA after introns have been removed

52
Q

Translation - occurs on ribosomes in the cytoplasm

A

mRNA acts as a template to which complementary tRNA molecules attach and amino acids they carry are linked to form a polypeptide

53
Q

Process of protein synthesis

A

DNA, transcription in nucleus, mRNA, translation at ribosome, polypeptide

54
Q

Sequence of events for transcription up to alignment

A

Helices breaks hydrogen bonds between bases, two strands separate, polymerase binds to template strand at the beginning of sequence to be copied, free RNA nucleotides align opposite template strand based on complementary relationship between bases in DNA and free nucleotides

55
Q

Sequence of events of transcription after alignement up to rewinding

A

Polymerase moves along DNA forming bonds that add RNA molecules, RNA strand grows, resulting in synthesis of a molecule of mRNA alongside unwound portion of DNA, DNA strand rewind to reform the double helix

56
Q

Sequence of events of transcription after rewinding

A

Polymerase separates template strand when it reaches ‘stop’ signal, production of the transcript is complete and the newly formed RNA detaches from DNA

57
Q

What happens during translation?

A

sequence of codons on mRNA is used to generate a specific sequence of amino acids forming a polypeptide. Takes place on ribosome and involves tRNA

57
Q

Two subunits of ribosome

A
  1. Larger subunit has 2 sites for attachment of tRNA molecules so two tRNA molecules are associated with a ribosome at any time
  2. Smaller subunit binds to the mRNA
58
Q

What happens to second tRNA during initiation?

A

Attaches to the other attachment site and the codon and anticodon bond with hydrogen bonds

59
Q

First stage of Translation

A

Initiation- ribosome attaches to a start codon, first tRNA attaches to the ribosome, 3 bases of the codon on the mRNA bond to 3 complementary bases of the anticodon of tRNA with hydrogen bonds

60
Q

2nd stage of Translation

A

Elongation, two amino acids are close for a ribosomal enzyme to catalyse formation of peptide bond between them

61
Q

3 point during elongation?

A

first tRNA leaves ribosome and returns to cytoplasm to bind to another copy of amino acid, ribosome moves one codon along mRNA strand, next tRNA binds

62
Q

3rd stage of Translation?

A

Termination, sequence repeats until ‘stop’ codon reached

63
Q

What is a polysome?

A

Several ribosomes bind to single mRNA strand each reading the coded information at the same time

64
Q

What does anticodon on tRNA determine?

A

which amino acid the tRNA molecule carries

65
Q

tRNA and amino acid activation

A

tRNA released from ribosome, free to collect another amino acid from amino acid pool in cytoplasm, energy from ATP needed to attach amino acid to tRNA

Biology (7 decks)

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