Chapter 8 Flashcards
What are the characteristics of genetic material?
- Genetic material must provide information.
- Must be able to be passed on to the next generation (replicated).
- Must encode the phenotype.
- Must have the capacity to vary (mutate or change).
What is Chargaff’s rule?
Chargaff discovered that DNA (no structure yet) has a composition where the amounts of A=T and G=C.
Griffith’s experiments helped prove DNA as the hereditary material. His experiments helped develop the:
Transforming principle.
What did Griffith contribute to our understanding of DNA as hereditary material?
Experiment with bacterium was the first to reveal the “transforming principle,” which led to the discovery that DNA acts as the carrier of genetic information
How was Griffith’s experiment performed?
Mice were injected with a non-virulent R (rough) strain and a virulent S (smooth) strain. Griffith concluded some chemical components from the virulent S cells transformed the R cells into a more virulent S form. Griffith concluded when the R strain bacteria built a smooth shell from the instructions carried by DNA, it expressed a gene
How did Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase contribute to our understanding of DNA?
Found that the phosphorus-containing components are the genetic material of phages
How was the Avery, Macleod, McCarty experiment performed?
Inserted S-strain bacteria in different test tubes and then treated each tube with a different enzyme to see if it would degrade. They added R-strain bacteria, injected mice, and observed for illness.
If Avery, Macleod, and McCarty had found that
samples of heat-killed bacteria treated with
RNase and DNase transformed bacteria, but
samples treated with protease did not, what
conclusion would they have made?
Protein is the genetic material
How did the experiment of Avery, Macleod, and McCarty contribute to our understanding of DNA?
VERY strong evidence that DNA was the molecule responsible for Griffith’s transformation
DNA (not proteins) can transform the properties of cells, clarifying the chemical nature of genes. DNA provides the information necessary for the transformation
How was the Hershey - Chase experiment performed?
Radioactive phosphorus-labeled phages attach to bacterial cell membranes in a liquid solution and infect the bacteria. Using a centrifuge, Hershey and Chase rapidly spun the samples to separate the bacterial cells from the surrounding solution
How did Watson, Crick, Wilkins, and Franklin contribute to our understanding of DNA?
Co-discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, which formed the basis for modern biotechnology.
Watson and Crick- discovery of the 3D structure of DNA
Franklin- X-ray diffraction image of DNA
Did Watson and Crick perform any experiments for their original contribution?
No, they used experimental results found by others to help with their experiments.
What is the structure of DNA?
What are nucleic acids in the structure of DNA?
Polymers of nucleotides (RNA and DNA)
What are Nucleotides in the structure of DNA?
The two main types are Deoxyribonucleotides (DNA) and ribonucleotides (RNA).
Both contain a sugar group, a phosphate, and a base. The sugar group is the key identifier.
What are the five different nitrogenous bases?
Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, Thymine (in DNA), Uracil (in RNA).
What are the phosphodiester bonds in the structure of DNA?
NMP=monophosphate, NDP=nucleotide diphosphate, NTP=nucleotide triphosphate
Nucleotides are linked together through phosphodiester bonds.
Provides a bridge between nucleotides in a nucleic acid. The 3’ OH of the sugar can be linked to the 5’ phosphate of the next nucleotide.
What are the Hydrogen bonds in DNA structure?
The base pairs are stabilized by hydrogen bonds; adenine and thymine form two hydrogen bonds between them, whereas cytosine and guanine form three hydrogen bonds between them.
What is the directionality of a DNA sequence?
The nucleic acid sequences are complementary and parallel, but they go in opposite directions,