Lecture 4 - Exam 1 Flashcards
Steroid hormones are derivatives of…?
Cholesterol
Steroid hormones act as…?
Can they cross cell membranes?
They act as chemical long distance messengers among cells.
They can cross cell membranes.
What are nucleic acids?
What is the structure of nucleic acids?
Principal informational molecules of the cell.
Are made up of many nucleotides together. Nucleotides are a Sugar molecule (Ribose or Deoxyribose), a phosphate, and a nitrogenous base.
What is Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)?
What is Ribonucleic acid (RNA)?
DNA: The genetic material
RNA: several types (mRNA, rRNA, and tRNA)
What is messenger RNA (mRNA)?
What is ribosomal and transfer RNA (rRNA & tRNA)?
mRNA: Carries information from DNA to the ribosomes.
rRNA & tRNA: Are involved in protein synthesis.
Other RNAs are involved in regulation of gene expression, and processing and transport of RNAs and proteins.
Are there other RNAs other than mRNA, rRNA, tRNA?
YES!
What are the two types of bases that comprise a nucleotide with deoxyribose as the sugar? What about with ribose as the sugar?
Purines (adenine and guanine) & Pyrimidines (cytosine and thymine).
With ribose, you will have uracil instead of thymine.
What are nucleosides?
When the bases (A, C, T, G, or U) are linked just to sugars. (no phosphate)
What are nucleotides?
Have a sugar, a base, and a phosphate that is linked to the 5’ carbon of the sugars.
What are phosphodiester bonds?
Form between the 5’ phosphate of one nucleotide and the 3’ hydroxyl of a sugar of another nucleotide.
What are oligonucleotides?
Are polymers of a few nucleotides.
RNA and DNA are _______ and may contain thousands or millions of nucleotides.
Polynucleotides
Polynucleotides (like DNA or RNA) have a sense of direction. One end terminates in a __ phosphate group and the other in a __ hydroxyl group.
5’ ; 3’
Hence, polynucleotides are always synthesized in the 5’ to 3’ direction.
DNA is made up of two polynucleotide chains running in _______ directions.
Opposite
Complementary base pairing allows…?
It allows one strand of DNA (or RNA) to act as a template for synthesis of a complementary strand.
Thus, nucleic acids are capable of self-replication.
DNA is made up of two polynucleotide chains running in opposite directions. The bases are where?
The bases are on the inside, joined by hydrogen bonds between complementary base pairs:
G w/ C
A w/ T
What is a hydrogen bond?
Weak electrostatic attraction between a proton in one molecule and an electronegative atom in the other.
What is the most diverse macromolecule?
Proteins.
Proteins are…?
Polymers of 20 different amino acids