Nucleic acids Flashcards
1
Q
what are nucleotides?
A
monomers of DNA and RNA and are phosphate esters of pentose sugars
2
Q
what’s the role of nucleotides in metabolic pathways
A
- can regulate or fuel them due to high energy phosphate bonds
- also form coenzymes like NADP
3
Q
components in a nucleotide
A
- phosphate group bonded to C3 or C5 via condensation reaction
- pentose sugar: ribose in RNA, deoxyribose in DNA
- nitrogenous base bonded to C1: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T)
4
Q
bond between phosphate and sugar in a nucleotide is
A
phosphodiester bond
5
Q
bond between base and sugar in a nucleotide is
A
glycosidic bond
6
Q
which bases are PURines and their features
A
- Guanine and Adenine
- 2 C rings
7
Q
which bases are pyrimidines and their features
A
- Cytosine and Thymine
- 1 C ring
8
Q
what’s ATP
A
- Adenosine triphosphate
- made up of 3 phosphate groups, a ribose sugar and the base adenine
9
Q
what type of reaction forms ADP + Pi from ATP (+H2O)
A
hydrolysis
10
Q
what type of reaction forms ATP (+H2O) from ADP + Pi
A
condensation
11
Q
what happens when ATP is hydrolysed
A
- small amount of energy is released which fuels many processes
- high energy bonds exist between phosphates
12
Q
what can ADP be hydrolysed to
A
AMP
13
Q
what can AMP be hydrolysed to
A
adenosine
14
Q
what’s deoxyribonucleic acid
A
- a polynucleotide containing genetic information and is found in all eukaryotic cell nuclei
15
Q
structure of DNA
A
- double helix with complementary bases, A-T, C-G
- large, storing lots of info in bases
- sugar phosphate backbone that protects the bases
- antiparallel strands join via H bonds