Chapter 8 Flashcards
Nucleic acid
Large biomolecules that play essential roles in all cells and viruses
Phosphodiester bonds
The backbone of the strands of nucleic acid present in the life existing on Earth.
Purines
One of the two families of the nitrogenous bases that have a six-membered nitrogen- containing ring and a five membered nitrogen containing ring fused together
Adenine
One of the four nucleotide bases in DNA.
Guanine
One of the four nucleotide bases in DNA.
Pyrimidines
A heterocyclic aromatic organic compound that is composed of carbon and hydrogen.
Cytosine
One of the four nucleotide bases in DNA.
Thymine
One of the four nitrogenous nucleobases that form the basic building blocks of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
Uracil
One of the four nucleotide bases in RNA.
Who is Erwin Chargaff?
Analyzed the concentrations of different nitrogenous bases in different organism.
Who is Rosaline Franklin?
An X-ray crystallographer discovered two important things about DNA: The phosphate group was on the ‘outside’ of the structure. The structure was a helical structure.
Who is James Watson and Francis Crick?
Using Chargaff’s rules and Franklin’s structural analysis, Watson and Crick determined the detailed structure of the DNA molecule
Antiparallel
Parallel but oppositely directed or oriented.
Complementary base-pairing
Bases pair up with each other in consistent way.
Template
A pattern serving as a mechanical guide.
Complementary
In nature complementarity is the base principle of DNA replication and transcription as it is a property shared between two DNA or RNA sequences, such that when they are aligned antiparallel to each other, the nucleotide bases at each position in the sequences will be complementary.
Semiconservative
During DNA replication, the two strands of nucleotides separate.
Anabolic
Involves synthetic reactions of metabolism
Endergonic
Absorbing energy in the form of work.
Nucleotide Triphosphates
A nucleoside containing a nitrogenous base bound to a 5-carbon sugar (either ribose or deoxyribose), with three phosphate groups bound to the sugar.
Exergonic
Chemical reactions that release energy in the form of heat.
Template stand
The DNA sequence that can duplicate itself during mRNA synthesis.
Primer
A short nucleic acid sequence that provides a starting point for DNA synthesis.
dNTPs
Nucleoside triphosphates containing deoxyribose.
Building blocks
The basis of living organisms.
Enzymes
A biological catalyst and is almost always a protein.
Helicase
Enzymes that bind and may even remodel nucleic acid protein complexes.
Gyrase
An essential bacterial enzyme that catalyzes the ATP dependent negative super-coiling of double-stranded closed-circular DNA.
DNA polymerase I
An enzyme that participates in the process of prokaryotic DNA replication.
DNA polymerase III
The enzyme primarily responsible for replicative DNA synthesis in E.coli.
Primase
An enzyme that synthesizes short RNA sequences called primers.
Ligase
The class of enzyme that brings about the binding or joining of two molecules.
Replication fork
A structure that is opened by DNA helicase within the long helical DNA during DNA replication.