Chapter 7 Flashcards
Genetics is the study of?
Inheritance and inheritable traits as expressed in an organism’s genetic material
The genome of a cell or virus is?
Its entire genetic complement, including both its genes-specific sequences of nucleotides that code for polypeptides or RNA molecules- and nucleotide sequences that connect genes to one another.
The genomes of cells and DNA viruses are composed solely of? RNA?
Molecules of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), whereas RNA viruses use ribonucleic acid instead.
Nucleic acids are polymers of basic building blocks called?
Nucleotides
Each nucleotide is made up of?
Phosphate attached to a nucleoside, which is in turn made up of a pentose sugar (ribose in RNA & deoxyribose in DNA) attached to one of five nitrogenous bases (guanine, cytosine, thymine, adenine, or uracil)
The bases of nucleotides hydrogen-bond to one another in specific ways called?
Complementary base pairs (bp)
The complementary base pairs (bp) in DNA & RNA
The complementary bases thymine and adenine bond to one another with two hydrogen bonds, whereas in RNA uracil, not thymine, forms two hydrogen bonds with adenine. In both DNA and RNA, the complementary bases guanine and cytosine bond to one another with three hydrogen bonds
What forms the two backbones of a helical, double stranded DNA (dsDNA) molecule?
Deoxyribonucleotides are liked through their sugars and phosphates to form the two backbones
The carbon atoms of deoxyribose are numbered how?
1’ (pronounced “one prime”) through 5’.
One end of a DNA strand is called the?
5’ end because it terminates in a phosphate group attached to a 5’ carbon; the opposite (3’) end terminates with a hydroxyl group bound to a 3’ carbon of deoxyribose. The two strands are oriented in opposite directions to each other; one strand runs in a 3’ to 5’ direction, while the other runs in a 5’ to 3’ direction. The two strands are antiparallel. The base pairs extend into the middle of the molecule.
The structure of DNA helps explain its ability to act as genetic material. First, the linear sequence of nucleotides carries the instructions for the?
Synthesis of polypeptides and RNA molecules. Second the complementary structure of the two strands allows a cell to make exact copies to pass to its progeny.
The DNA of prokaryotic genomes is found in two structures
Chromosomes and plasmids
Prokaryotic cells, both bacterial and archeaeal, package the main portion of their DNA, along with associated molecules of protein and RNA, as one or two distinct?
Chromosomes. Prokaryotic cells have a single copy of each chromosome and are called haploid cells
A typical prokaryotic chromosome consists of a circular molecule of DNA localized in a region of the cytoplasm called the?
Nucleoid
What are the base pairs for DNA and RNA?
DNA: A-T base pair, G-C base pair
DNA: A-U base pair, G-C base pair
What structures do DNA nucleotides and RNA nucleotides have in common?
Both DNA & RNA nucleotides are each composed of a pentose sugar, a phosphate, and a nitrogenous base
The enzyme gyrase further folds?
And supercoils the entire prokaryotic chromosome
In addition to chromosomes, many prokaryotic cells contain one or more plasmids, which are?
Small molecules of DNA that replicate independently of the chromosome
Each plasmid carries?
Information required for its own replication, and often for one or more cellular traits. Typically, genes carried on plasmids are not essential for normal metabolism, for growth, or for cellular reproduction but can confer advantages to the cells that carry them.
Carry instructions for conjugation, a process involved in transferring genes from one bacterial cell to anothher
Fertility (F) plasmids
Carry genes for resistance to one or more antimibrobial drugs or heavy metals. Certain cells can transfer resistance plasmids to other cells, which then acquire resistance to the same antimicrobial chemicals.
Resistance (R) plasmids
Carry genes for proteinaceous toxins called bacteriocins, which kill bacterial cells of the same or similar species that lack the plasmid. In this way a bacterium containing this plasmid can kill its competitors.
Bacteriocin plasmids
Carry instructions for structures, enzymes, or toxins that enable a bacterium to become pathogenic. For example, E. coli, a normal resident of the human gastrointestinal tract, causes diarrhea only when it carries plasmids that code for certain toxins
Virulence plasmids
Eukaryotic genomes consist of both
Nuclear and extranuclear DNA
DNA replication is what type of process?
Anabolic polymerization process that allows a cell to pass copies of its genome to its descendants.
DNA nucleotides with 3 phosphate linked together by two high-energy bonds
Triphosphate deoxyribonucleotides
The key to DNA replication is the?
complementary structure of the two strands: Adenine and guanine in one strand bond with thymine and cytosine in the other
DNA replication is a simple concept
A cell separates the two original strands and uses each as a template for the synthesis of a new complementary strand
DNA replication begins at a specific sequence of nucleotides called an?
Origin
Locally unzips the DNA molecule by breaking the hydrogen bonds between complementary nucleotide bases, which exposes the bases in a replication fork
Enzyme DNA helicase
Enzymes of DNA replication in order
1) DNA helicase- unzips DNA molecule by breaking hydrogen bonds between bases
2) DNA polymerase- binds to each strand. Catalyze synthesis of DNA by addition of new nucleotides
After the enzyme DNA helicase unzips the DNA strands what keeps the strands separated so they do not rejoin while replication proceeds?
Other protein molecules stabilize the separated single strands
After helices untwists and separates the strands, a molecule of an enzyme called DNA polymerase binds to what and does what?
Binds to each strand. It catalyzes synthesis of DNA by the addition of new nucleotides only to a hydroxyl group at the 3’ end of a nucleic acid.
All DNA polymerase replicate DNA in?
Only one direction-5’ to 3’
Usual enzyme of DNA replication in bacteria
DNA polymerase III
Because the two original (template) strands are antiparallel, cells synthesis new strand in two different ways. Explain
One new strand, called the leading strand, is synthesized continuously, 5’ to 3’, as a single long chain of nucleotides. The other new strand, called the lagging strand, is also synthesized 5’ to 3’ but in short segments that are later joined. The two processes occur simultaneously
Describe the synthesis of the leading strand: A cell synthesizes a leading strand toward the replication fork in a series of 5 steps
1) The enzyme primase synthesizes a short RNA molecule that is complementary to the template DNA strand. This RNA primer provides the 3’ hydroxyl group required by DNA polymerase III.
2) Triphosphate deoxyribonucleotides form hydrogen bonds with their complements in the parental strand. Adenine nucleotides bind to thymine nucleotides, and guanine nucleotides bind to cytosine nucleotides
3) Using every in the high-energy bonds of the triphosphate deoxyribonucleotides, DNA polymerase III covalently joins them one at a time to the leading strand. DNA polymerase III can add about 500-1000 nucleotides per second to a new strand
4) DNA polymerase proofreads. About 1 out of 100,000 nucleotides is mismatched with its template. DNA polymerase III recognizes errors & removes incorrect nucleotides before proceeding with synthesis.
5) DNA polymerase I replaces the RNA primer with DNA
Proofreading exonuclease function
DNA polymerase III
Adds nucleotides only to the 3’ end of the new strand, the enzyme moves away from the replication fork as it synthesizes a lagging strand
DNA polymerase III
The steps in the synthesis of the lagging strand
1) Nucleotides pair up with their complements in the template
2) DNA polymerase III joins neighboring nucleotides & proofreads.
3) DNA polymerase I replaces the RNA primers of Okazaki fragments with DNA & proofreads the short DNA segment it has synthesized
4) DNA ligase seal the gaps between adjacent Okazaki fragments to form a continuous DNA strand
All primers are replaced with?
DNA nucleotides
DNA replication is bidrectional meaning
DNA synthesis proceeds in both directions from the origin