midterm Flashcards
what are the 4 classes of biomolecules?
amino acids, carbohydrates, nucleotides, lipids
what does the spacefilling model do?
gives idea about the shape, but loses information about connectivity
what do amino acids make and with what bond?
proteins with peptide bonds
what do nucleotides make and with what bond?
nucleic acids with phosphodiester bonds
what do monosaccharides make and with what bond?
polysaccharides with glycosidic (ether) bonds
what is the bond angle for water
104.5
structural difference between water and ice?
ice is a regular lattice of H bonds, water is a fluctuating H bond structure
approximately how many hydrogen bonds per water molecule?
3
what are the 3 types of electrostatic forces
ionic interactions, hydrogen bonds, van der waals forces
what are hydrophobic effects determined by?
the solvent
what are the 2 types of van der waals interactions?
dipole-dipole, london dispersion
dipole dipole interactions
between two polar non charged groups, weaker than h bonds
london dispersion interactions
b/w non polar molecules, weaker than dipole-dipole
what is the hydrophobic effect?
when nonpolar molecules clump together they reduce their effective surface area which leads to a higher entropy (disorder) for the solvent. entropically favorable.
generalized structure of amino acids
amino group, carboxyl group, variable side chain
what is the ratio of CHO in carbohydrates
1:2:1
generalized structure of nucleotides
carbohydrate, nitrogen containing base, phosphate group
what is a key feature in lipids?
presence of long, hydrophobic fatty acid chains
what are nucleotides used for?
incorporations into nucleic acids, and used as high energy molecules (NTP’S)
what is a nucleoside?
nitrogen containing base and a sugar. differentiated by the absence of a phosphate
what does a hydrogen bond acceptor have?
lone pairs
what does a hydrogen bond donator have?
a proton
what hydroxyl is DNA missing
2’ hydroxyl
how is a nucleoside formed?
purines and pyrimidine bases are linked to a 5 carbon sugar
what is the linkage of a pyrimidine in a nucleoside or nucleotide?
n1 to c1
what is the linkage of a purine in a nucleoside or nucleotide?
n9 to c1
what does the lack of c2’ OH do in DNA?
reduces the amount of hydrogen bonds
when naming nucleosides, what do purines end with?
-ine to -osine
when naming nucleosides, what do pyrimidines end with?
-idine
which bases are pyrimidines?
U, T, C
which bases are purines?
A, G
how are nucleic acids formed?
polymers of nucleotides linked by 3’-5’ phosphodiester bonds
by convention, which way are nucleotide sequences written?
5’ to 3’
what is the backbone of nucleic acids?
the sugar and the phosphate. the nucleic acids are not considered part of the backbone
examples of mononucleotides
ATP, ADP, FMN
does hydrolysis of phosphodiester bonds happen in DNA? why or why not?
it doesnt happen in DNA because there is no 2’ OH which doesnt allow for a intermediate linkage
in what conditions does hydrolysis of phosphodiester bonds happen? what does this mean about RNA and DNA?
high ph. makes DNA more stable in basic conditions, and spontaneous alkaline hydrolysis of RNA
spontaneous deamination
spontaneous reaction that converts C to U
sugar phosphate backbone is polar or nonpolar?
polar
what are the properties of bases?
heterocyclic, aromatic, basically planar (slightly pucker in purine bases), poorly soluble in water, hydrophobic
how do you measure the purity of DNA?
A260/ A280
what is the A 260/ A 280 for pure dna?
1.95
what is A280?
protein absorption maximum, dna absorption is decreased by approximately 50% at 280
what happens when dna is contaminated with protein?
the ratio of A260/A280 will go down
what is A260 used for? what is the relationship?
to measure the concentration of nucleic acids in solution. linear relationship
what is the primary structure of DNA
sequence of nucleotide residues
what is the secondary structure of DNA
3d shape
how is a double helix formed?
hydrogen bonds between the bases
what did erwin chargaff do?
base composition varies from organism to organism, helped watson and crick deduce the double helix sturcutre
what happens to hydrogen bonds in solution?
when they break, they can form new interactions with water. isolation from solvent strengthens the H bond interactions
what is base stacking and what does it involve and do?
DNA is stabilized by base stacking interactions and hydrogen bonds. base stacking is the primary stabilizing force, involves primarily van der waals forces, but also hydrophobic forces
major groove
wide enough to accomadate protein-DNA interactions
what is the core in b-DNA
hydrophobic core
what is the exterior in b-DNA
polar exterior
are the bases surrounded or excluded from water? why?
bases are largely excluded from water, this stabilizes the hydrogen bonds
which parts of b-DNA are exposed to water?
ribose/deoxyribose and phosphates
how many bp per turn in b-DNA?
10
what is chargaff’s rule?
a+g=c+t
what does denaturation disrupt?
non-covalent forces. effects base stacking and hydrogen bonding
what does denaturation cause a change in?
increase in absorption at 260nm as strands separate
what is tm and how does it vary?
tm is the midpoint of melting of DNA, varies by base composition. also depends on solution
what kind of process is DNA melting and why?
cooperative process, once it beings its easy to continue
single stranded dna has higher or lower absorbance at 260 compared to ds?
higher absorbance
what does ss dna have?
hyperchromicity, relatively high absorbance (dna has hypochromocity)
renaturation
reformation of dsDNA so it regains its native conformation
what does a base pair of a higher GC concentration mean? why?
higher tm. because of base stacking, but you can remember in terms of hydrogen bonds (GC has 3 h bonds), but it is NOT because of hydrogen bonding
what is the relationship between GC and Tm
linear relationship
what portion of DNA denatures first?
those rich in AT regions. become nucleation sites for strand separation
how does changing pH effect Tm
affects protonation state of DNA
describe how changing salt concentrations effects Tm
ion concentration shields the negative charges on the phosphate backbone of dna, which stabilizes the structure, therefore increasing Tm. If there is low salt concentration, the double helix will be destabilized and will have a lower Tm
how does hybridization effect Tm?
the better the match between the two strands, the higher the Tm
how is RNA stabilized?
base stacking and h bonds
what is different about RNA vs DNA in terms of their base pairing
RNA has intrastand base pairing, DNA has interstrand base pairing
what is a wobble pair and where is it found
in RNA, when a G binds to a U. not a watson and crick bond
what kind of forces stabilize RNA secondary structure?
the same as DNA. includes hydrogen bonding and base stacking
is rna single stranded or double?
can be a mixture of both
what is the 260/280 ration in RNA
2.1
What is B-DNA?
regular dna
can DNA and complementary RNA form double stranded helix?
yeah, the structure is not as high order, and is somewhat disordered. it is right handed, and the predominant stabilizing form is base stacking interactions
what is different about the melting curve for rna?
RNA goes from partially ss to fully ss, while dna goes from fully ds to fully ss
where is it the essence of a protein’s function?
its interactions with other molecules
what is a protein’s function determined by?
its structure
what is a zwitterion?
overall neutral ion with both positive and negative charges
what is included in a general amino acid?
amino group, carboxylate group, variable side chain, alpha carbon