Molecular Biology: DNA, RNA, and Protein Flashcards
What is a genome?
- Every organism has a genome that contains the information needed to make and maintain itself
- Most genomes are made of DNA but some viruses have an RNA genome
- The human genome has 3,235,000,000 base pairs of DNA
- We also have a mitochondrial genome that is 16,569 base pairs of DNA
- Can be over 1000 mitochondria per human cell and each mitochondria can have 5 to 10 copies of mitochondrial DNA
What is a chromosome?
- The human genome has 3,235,000,000 base pairs of DNA
- In eukaryotic organisms, the DNA is not a single long chain
- Instead the DNA is split up into different sizes of linear molecules that condense to form a chromosome
This is a karyotype of which organism?
Diploid organism (in this case a bull)
29 autosomal chromosomes x 2 copies
2 sex chromosomes (X and Y)
Total = 60 chromosomes
How many chromosomes does each organism have?
39 (1n); 78 (2n) = chicken
23 (1n); 46 (2n) = human
52 (1n); 104 (2n) = catfish
1n = 1 set (copy) of chromosomes (haploid)
2n = 2 sets (copies) of chromosomes (diploid)
All organisms have DNA made from the same molecules.
True or False?
True.
DNA =
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Genetic material is a long double stranded DNA polymer.
The sequence of units in DNA are called […].
deoxyribonucleotides
The chemical composition of deoxyribonucleotides is the same in all organisms.
True or False?
True.
This is one reason why molecular biologists can transfer genes
amongst organisms
Describe the structure of nucleotide.
Pyrimidines [2].
- Cytosine
- Thymine (uracil in RNA)
Purines [2].
- Adenine
- Guanine
- Cytosine
- Thymine (Uracil in RNA)
Pyrimidines [2].
- Adenine
- Guanine
Purines [2].
How are nucleotides abbreviated?
- Abbreviations of the four nucleotides are dATP, dCTP, dGTP, dTTP
- For example, dATP = 2ʹ-deoxyadenosine 5ʹ-triphosphate
Nucleotide subunits are joined by […].
- Nucleotide subunits are joined by phosphodiester bonds.
Describe the chemical structure of a single strand of DNA.
- The phosphate group of the 5’-carbon of one nucleotide is linked to the 3’-OH group of the deoxyribose of the adjacent nucleotide.
- The polynucleotide strand has a 3’-OH group at one end and a 5’-phosphate group at the other end.
- The nucleotide subunits are joined by phosphodiester bonds.
How do nucleotides join together to make DNA?
- DNA synthesis occurs in the 5’ to 3’ direction.
- An enzyme called DNA polymerase adds nucleotides to the DNA strand.
- The alpha-phosphate of the nucleotide gets incorporated into the DNA strand and the beta-gamma phosphates (called pyrophosphates) are removed.
Describe the structure of a double strand of DNA.
- Antiparallel
- C pairs with G (3 h-bonds)
- T pairs with A (2 h-bonds)
Adenine and thymine bond via 2 hydrogen bonds.
True or False?
True.
Adenine and thymine bond via 3 hydrogen bonds.
True or False?
False.
They bond by only 2.
Cytosine and guanine bond via 2 hydrogen bonds.
True or False?
False.
They bond via 3.
Cytosine and guanine bond via 3 hydrogen bonds.
True or False?
True.
Think C3PO. (3 bonds goes with cytosine)
How much DNA do organisms have?
- A thousand base pairs = kilobase pairs or Kb
- A million base pairs = megabase pairs or Mb
- A billion base pairs = gigabase pairs or Gb
What are the major functions of DNA? [4]
- Encodes the information for the production of proteins
- It is reproduced (replicated) with a high degree of accuracy to pass the encoded information onto new cells.
- DNA single-strand can act as a template for the production of a new complementary strand.
- Sequence of nucleotides in a gene provides the code for the production of a protein.
Watson-Crick-Franklin model of DNA fully meets these requirements.
What is the complementary DNA strand?
5’-TAGGCAT-3’
3’-ATCCGTA-5’
How do RNA molecules differ from DNA? [3]
- Sugar is ribose instead of deoxyribose
- Instead of thymine (T), the base is uracil in RNA
- Most RNA is single stranded
List the different types of RNA in the cell.
- sncRNA
- lncRNA
- hnRNA
- mRNA
- rRNA
- tRNA
What is sncRNA?
short non-coding RNA < 200 nucleotides
What is lncRNA?
long noncoding RNA
What is hnRNA?
heterogenous nuclear RNA (term for unprocessed mRNA)