CHAPTER 4 Flashcards
nucleic acids
polymers specialized for storage, transmission, and use of genetic information
DNA
deoxyribonucleic acid; has deoxyribose; has thymine
RNA
ribonucleic acid; has ribose; has uracil
nucleotides
monomers for nucleic acid: pentose sugar + nitrogenous base + phosphate group
two forms of nitrogenous bases?
-pyrimidines: single ring
-purines: fused double-ring
types of pyrimidines
-Cytosine
-Thymine
-Uracil
types of purines
-Adenine
-Guanine
how are nucleotides linked?
-through phosphodiester bonds
-phosphate groups link the 3 carbon in one sugar to the 5 carbon in another sugar
-nucleic acids grow in the 5’-to-3’ direction
DNA base?
-purines: adenine (A) & Guanine (G)
-pyrimidines: cytosine (C) & thymine (T)
complementary base pairing
purines pair with pyrimidines by hydrogen bonding
-can also take place between RNA and DNA
RNA base
-single-stranded, but base pairing can occur between different regions of the molecule which results in 3D structures
-RNA has uracil (U) instead of thymine
DNA
-two strands form a double helix
-all DNA molecules have the same structure
-genetic information is carried in the sequence of base pairs
Transcription
DNA sequences are copied into RNA
Translation
RNA sequence specifies the sequence of amino acids in a polypeptide
gene expression
transcription + translation
replication
when DNA reproduce itself