nucleic acids Flashcards
purine bases
Adenine, Guanine
pyrimidine bases
Cytosine, uracil, thymine
are nucleic acids polymers
what are the monomers that make up a nucleic acid?
yes they are
nucleotides
components of nucleotides
a base, a pentose sugar, and a phosphate
what is the difference between the pentose sugars in RNA and DNA
in DNA, there is no oxygen bonded to carbon 2
similarities between nucleosides and nucleotides
difference between nucleosides and nucleotides
they both have nitrogenous bases and pentose sugars
nucleosides have no phosphate groups attached, while nucleotides can have one or more phosphate groups attached
what do nucleosides serve as the basic building blocks for
what do nucleotides serve as the basic building blocks for
nucleotides
nucleic acids
what are the names of the RNA nucleosides composed of the following nitrogenous bases (try to recall what their nucleotides will be called as well)
Adenine
Guanine
Cytosine
Uracil
Adenosine
Guanosine
Cytidine
Uridine
what are the names of the DNA nucleosides composed of the following nitrogenous bases (try to recall what their nucleotides will be called as well)
Adenine
Guanine
Cytosine
thymine
Deoxyadenosine
Deoxyguanosine
Deoxycytidine
Deoxythymidine
name of the bond that joins nucleotides to form a nucleic acid
phosphodiester bond
which reaction does the formation of a phosphodiester bond involve
briefly describe how a phosphodiester bond forms between nucleotides
The formation of a phosphodiester bond involves a condensation reaction(so water is released)
OH group on C3” in the sugar of the first nucleotide will interact with the phosphate group bound to C5” in the other nucleotide.
polynucleotides
long chains of nucleotides
what features does a DNA single strand have on it’s 5’ and 3’ ends
a free phosphate on the 5’ end and a free hydroxyl group on the 3’ end
how is a single-stranded DNA sequence read?
The sequence is read starting at the 5” end using letters designating the nitrogen bases in the nucleotides(i.e either A, C, G, or T), depending on the order from the 5” end
DNA exists as a double helix. what is it that stabilizes the double helix
hydrogen bonding between complementary bases
what are two complementary base pairs in DNA?
A-T
C-G
which is longer, a purine, or a pyrimidine
purines are longer in terms of the number of atoms and the complexity of their structure compared to pyrimidines.
what is meant when we say DNA strands are anti-parallel
In the DNA molecule, there are two complementary strands, and they run in opposite directions, which is what makes them anti-parallel
are the phosphate backbones of DNA strands hydrophobic?
no. because the oxygens on the phosphate groups are negatively charged
DNA grooves
types
indentations found in the double-helical structure of DNA
major groove(larger)
minor groove(smaller)
factors that can cause DNA to denature
extreme pH
high temperatures
base stacking
are phosphodiester bonds broken during the denaturing of DNA
no, they are not. denaturation of DNA happens due to the disruption of hydrogen bonds between base pairs
Define the Temperature of melting of DNA
The Temperature of Melting (Tm) is defined as the temperature at which 50%of double-stranded DNA is changed to single-standard DNA
how many hydrogen bonds are there between the following complementary base pairs;
A-T
C-G
2
3
