DNA and gene expression Flashcards
What does DNA stand for?
deoxyribonucleic acid
How is a sugar phosphate backbone formed?
Nucleotides from chemical bonds between deoxyribose sugar and phosphate group
What are the four organic bases and what pairs with what?
- Adenine (A)
- Thymine (T)
- Cytosine (C)
- Guanine (G)
A-T C-G
What shape is DNA?
DNA takes the shape of a double helix
How many strands is in DNA?
DNA is a double stranded molecule
How is the double helix formed?
H bonds form between the bases
Where is the 3’ strand?
Always end on deoxyribose sugar
Where is the 5’ strand?
Always ends on phosphate group
What does DNA polymerase do and what’s this called?
it can only add nucleotides in one direction (results in one strand being replicated) (leading)
Whats meant by lagging?
the other strand to leading is replicated in fragments which are joined together by another enzyme (ligase)
What are the 5 requirements for DNA replication?
- Parental DNA
- Enzymes (Ligase + polymerase)
- free DNA nucleotides
- ATP
- Primers
What does PCR mean and what does it do?
PCR- Polymerase Chain Reaction
A technique used to amplify DNA using complementary primers (can make millions to billions of DNA copies)
What does amplification mean?
To make many copies
Whats a primer?
Small sections of nucleotides at two ends of region to be amplified
what is DNA polymerase (Taq)?
Heat tolerant enzyme used to replicate DNA at high temperature
Who might use PCR for a practical application?
Forensic and medical
What are the three types of RNA?
mRNA
tRNA
rRNA
What is each RNA nucleotide made up of?
Phosphate group
Organic base
Ribose sugar
What are the 4 RNA bases?
Adenine
Guanine
Cytosine
Uracil (replaces thymine)
What will gene expression involve?
transcription and translation of DNA sequences