nucleic acids Flashcards
what does DNA stand for?
deoxyribonucleic acid
what is a nucleotide formed of?
pentose sugar
phosphate group
base
what is a pentose sugar?
sugar containing 5 carbons
where is a phosphodiester bond?
phosphdiester bond = 2 ester bonds and a phosphate group
how are nucleotides joined?
by a condesatio reaction to form a polynucleotide strand with a sugar-phosphate backbone
what bases pair together?
A + T
C + G
how many hydrogen bonds are between C and G
3 hydrogen bonds
how many hydrogen bonds are between A and T?
2 hydrogen bonds
what is the name of each base
A = adenine
T = thymine
C = cytosine
G = guanine
what is a purine?
larger
2 rings of atoms
which bases are purines?
A and G
what is a pyrimadine?
smaller
1 ring of atoms
which bases are pyramindines?
C and T
what did watson and crick do?
determined double helix structure
what is the structure of mRNA described as?
single helix