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Princeton : MCAT BIOLOGY > MCAT BIO: Chapter 4 / Molecular Biology > Flashcards

MCAT BIO: Chapter 4 / Molecular Biology Flashcards

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1
Q

What does DNA stand for?

A

Deoxyribose nucleic acid

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2
Q

What does RNA stand for?

A

Ribonucleic acid

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3
Q

Where is DNA found?

A

In the nucleus

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4
Q

What is the building block of DNA?

A

Deoxyribonucleoside 5’ triphosphate (dNTP)

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5
Q

What does N represent?

A

“N” refers to one of the nitrogenous bases

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6
Q

What are all nitrogenous bases?

A

Thymine, Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, Uracil

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7
Q

What are the purines?

A

Adenine and Guanine

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8
Q

What are the pyrimidines?

A

Cytosine, Thymine, Uracil

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9
Q

What is the mnemonic for pyrimidines?

A

Pi-Cut

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10
Q

What is the mnemonic for purines?

A

Pure As Gold

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11
Q

What is a nucleoside?

A

A ribose or deoxyribose w/ a purine or pyrimidine linked to a 1’ carbon

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12
Q

What is a nucleotide?

A

Phosphate esters of nucleosides w/ 1-3 phosphates joined to the ribose ring by the 5’ hydroxy group

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13
Q

What is the term for nucleotides that contain 3 phosphate residues?

A

Nucleoside triphosphate (NTP)

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14
Q

What does the sugar and phosphate portion of nucleotides refer to as?

A

Backbone of the DNA

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15
Q

How does phosphodiester bonds covalently link one nucleotide to another?

A

This occurs between the 3’ hydroxyl group of one deoxyribose and the 5’ phosphate of another deoxyribose

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16
Q

What are several nucleotides linked together called?

A

Oligonucleotides

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17
Q

What are many nucleotides linked together called?

A

Polynucleotides

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18
Q

What does the Watson-Crick Model of DNA structure state?

A

DNA is cellular, a right-handed double helix held together by hydrogen bonds between bases

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19
Q

When DNA is found in the nucleus, is it double-stranded or single stranded?

A

Double-stranded (ds)

20
Q

What does dsDNA mean?

A

Refers to two polynucleotides in antiparallel configuration hydrogen bonded

21
Q

What does antiparallel mean in terms of DNA?

A

There is a 5’ chain end that pairs to a 3’ end of the complementary strand

22
Q

How many hydrogen bonds hold Adenine and Thymine together? Adenine and Uracil?

A

2 hydrogen bonds

23
Q

How many hydrogen bonds hold Guanine and Cytosine?

A

3 hydrogen bonds

24
Q

What is the term for the nitrogenous base pairing?

A

Complementary-base pairs

25
Q

What is annealing or hybridization in DNA?

A

The binding of two complementary strands of DNA into double-stranded structure

26
Q

What can cause the separation of dsDNA?

A

Melting or Denaturation

27
Q

Why is DNA coiled?

A

The 2 hydrogen-bonded antiparallel dsDNA forming a right-handed double helix

28
Q

What does the DNA structure look like in a corkscrew, clockwise motion?

A

The bases face the interior and the sugar/phosphate backbone face the exterior

29
Q

How is the double helix stabilized?

A

Van der Waals interaction between the bases; due to pi-bond stacking bases upon each other

30
Q

What is term for the sum total of an organism’s genetic information called?

A

Genome

31
Q

Each piece of dsDNA is called?

A

Chromosome

32
Q

How many chromosomes do humans have?

A

46 chromosomes; 23 chromosomes from each parent

33
Q

What genome is composed of several large pieces of dsDNA?

A

Eukaryotic

34
Q

What genome is composed of a single circular chromosome?

A

Prokaryotic

35
Q

Viral genome may be in linear or circular DNA or RNA (T/F)

A

True

36
Q

How does prokaryotes make their singular chromosome more compact and sturdy?

A

The use of DNA gyrase

37
Q

What is DNA gyrase?

A

An enzyme that uses ATP to twist DNA

38
Q

In what conformation does DNA gyrase twist the dsDNA structure?

A

Supercoiled

39
Q

What does the eukaryotic genome require to fit in the cell?

A

Denser packaging

40
Q

How is denser packaging achieved?

A

DNA wraps itself around histones

41
Q

What is a histone?

A

A globular protein that DNA wraps itself around?

42
Q

What wraps themselves around an octamer of histones before DNA is completely packed away?

A

Nucleosomes

43
Q

What is a nucleosome?

A

Beads on a string that wrap themselves around histones

44
Q

What is a linker DNA?

A

The length of double-helical DNA composed of the string between the beads

45
Q

What is linker DNA bound by?

A

A single histone linker

46
Q

What is a fully packed DNA referred to as?

A

Chromatin

Princeton : MCAT BIOLOGY (2 decks)

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