Chpt 1: Cells and genomes Flashcards
what distinguishes life from other processes, such as the growth of a crystal
heredity
are most living organisms single or multi cellular
single
a living organism must consume what to exist
free energy
all cells store their hereditary information in what form
DNA molecules
what provides compelling evidence that all living things have a universal common ancestral cell
all living cells store their information in the same form or that the hereditary information carried by one type of cell should be readable by the information-handling machinery of another
describe the overall structure of DNA
- DNA is long, unbranched, paired polymer chains
- polymer chains are composed of 4 types of monomers
- monomers are chem compounds called nucelotides A,T,G,C
what is a genome
the totality of hereditary info embodied in the linear sequence of nucleotides in somethings DNA
all cells replicate their hereditary info how
by templated polymerization
describe the structure of a nucleotide
- deoxyribose sugar
- phosphate group
- base (ATGC)
how many bonds between G C
3
how many bonds between A T
2
what kind of bonds are between 2 nucleotides (forming the chain)
sugar-phosphate linkages
what gives a DNA molecule directionality/ polarity
cause the sugar-phosphate is asymmetric
what differs in regards to DNA replication in diff cells
- diff rates of DNA replication
- diff controls to start/ stop it
- diff auxiliary molecules to help the process along
what sugar is in RNA
ribose
how many AA are there
20
what makes up proteins
AA
do all cells do translation the same way
yeah
a codon codes for what
a single AA
the genetic code is read out by what
tRNA
what is a gene
the segment of DNA sequence corresponding either to a single protein or to a single RNA molecule
what are the three major domains of life
- eukaryotes
- bacteria
- archaea
what helps us to determine the evolutionary distance between 2 organisms
- the number of differences between their DNA sequences
- we look at their rRNA sequences
bacteria and archaea are both what kind of living organism
prokaryotes
what are the most diverse group of organism on the planet
bacteria
describe the structure of bacteria
- spherical or rod-shaped
- only a few micrometers
- have a cell wall and cytoplasm with all the proteins they need