NUCLEIC ACIDS

Question 1

A most remarkable property of living cells is their ability to ___.

Answer 1

produce exact replicas of themselves

Question 2

discovered nucleic acids in 1869 while studying the nuclei of white blood cells.

The fact that they were initially found in cell nuclei and are acidic accounts for the name nucleic acid.

Answer 2

Friedrich Miescher (1844–1895)

Question 3

TRUE or FALSE

Nucleic acids are found throughout a cell, not just in the nucleus

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Documents patterns of heredity in pea plants

Answer 4

Mendel (1865)

Question 5

first identifies DNA (“nuclein”)

Answer 5

Miescher (1869)

Question 6

Propose chromosome theory of heredity

Answer 6

Sutton and Boveri (1902)

Question 7

___ and his “Fly Room” colleagues confirm the chromosome theory of heredity

Answer 7

Morgan (1945)

Question 8

___ and his “Fly Room” colleagues confirm the chromosome theory of heredity

Answer 8

Morgan (1945)

Question 9

shows that X-rays induce mutations

Answer 9

Muller (1927)

Question 10

“Transformation experiments” transform non-pathogenic bacteria strains to pathogenic

Answer 10

Griffith (1928)

Question 11

Demonstrates genetic combination in corn

Answer 11

McClintock (1931)

Question 12

Describe the “one gene —one enzyme” hypothesis

Answer 12

Beadle and Tatum (1941)

Question 13

Show that DNA is the “transforming principle” responsible for heredity

Answer 13

Avery, McLeod, and McCarty (1944)

Question 14

Discovers that A=T and C=G (Chargaff’s rules)

Answer 14

Chargaff (1950)

Question 15

Use radioactive labeling to prove that DNA is responsible for heredity

Answer 15

Hershey and Chase (1952)

Question 16

Propose the double helix structure of DNA

Answer 16

Watson and Crick (1953)

Question 17

Sequencing projects begin

Answer 17

Genome (1990)

Question 18

Propose the existence of mRNA

Answer 18

Jacob and Monod (1961)

Question 19

Two types of nucleic acids are found within cells of higher organisms:

Answer 19

deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA).

Question 20

Nearly all the DNA is found within the cell ___.

Answer 20

Nucleus

Question 21

Its primary function is the storage and transfer of genetic information.

Answer 21

Cell nucleus

Question 22

This information is used (indirectly) to control many functions of a living cell.

Answer 22

DNA

Question 23

DNA is passed from existing cells to new cells during ___.

Answer 23

cell division

Question 24

__ occurs in all parts of a cell. It functions primarily in synthesis of proteins, the molecules that carry out essential cellular functions.

Answer 24

RNA

Question 25

All nucleic acid molecules are __.

Answer 25

polymers

Question 26

A nucleic acid is a polymer in which the monomer units are ___.

Answer 26

nucleotides

Question 27

Cytosine Guanine Adenine Uracil

Answer 27

RNA

Question 28

Cytosine Guanine Adenine Thymine

Answer 28

DNA

Question 29

A __ is a three-subunit molecule in which a pentose sugar is bonded to both a phosphate group and a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic base.

Answer 29

nucleotide

Question 30

With a three-subunit structure, ___ are more complex monomers than the monosaccharides of polysaccharides and the amino acids of proteins.

Answer 30

nucleotides

Question 31

The sugar unit of a nucleotide is either the

Answer 31

pentose ribose or the pentose 2’-deoxyribose Pentose sugar

Question 32

Five nitrogen-containing heterocyclic bases are nucleotide components. Three of them are derivatives of ___, a monocyclic base with a six-membered ring, and two are derivatives of __, a bicyclic base with fused five- and six-membered ring

Answer 32

pyrimidine, purine

Question 33

Thymine Cytosine Uracil

Answer 33

Pyrimidine

Question 34

Adenine Guanine

Answer 34

Purine

Question 35

Phosphate, the third component of a nucleotide, is derived from ___ (H3PO4). Under cellular pH conditions, it loses two of its hydrogen atoms to give a hydrogen phosphate ion (HPO4 2-)

Answer 35

phosphoric acid

Question 36

____, with formation of a water molecule, occurs at two locations: between sugar and base and between sugar and phosphate.

Answer 36

Condensation

Question 37

The base is always attached at the C-__ position of the sugar. For purine bases, attachment is through N-9; for pyrimidine bases, N-1 is involved.

Answer 37

C-1

Question 38

The C-1’ carbon atom of the ribose unit is always in a b configuration, and the bond connecting the sugar and base is a

Answer 38

b-N-glycosidic linkage

Question 39

The phosphate group is attached to the sugar at the C-5’ position through a

Answer 39

phosphate–ester linkage

Question 40

All of the names end in ___, which signifies the presence of a phosphate group attached to the 5’ carbon atom of ribose or deoxyribose.

Answer 40

5’-monophosphate

Question 41

Preceding the monophosphate ending is the name of the __ present in a modified form. The suffix -osine is used with purine bases, the suffix -idine with pyrimidine bases

Answer 41

base

Question 42

True or False Hydrogen-bonding possibilities are more favorable when A-T and G-C base pairing occurs than A-C and G-T base pairing occues

Answer 42

True

Question 43

__ molecules are the carriers of genetic information within a cell; that is, they are the molecules of heredity.

Answer 43

DNA

Question 44

The process by which new DNA molecules are generated is ___.

Answer 44

DNA replication

Question 45

is the biochemical process by which DNA molecules produce exact duplicates of themselves.

Answer 45

DNA replication

Question 46

Once the DNA within a cell has been replicated, it interacts with specific proteins in the cell called ___ to form structural units that provide the most stable arrangement for the long DNA molecules.

Answer 46

histones

Question 47

These histone–DNA complexes are called ___.

Answer 47

chromosomes

Question 48

A ___ is an individual DNA molecule bound to a group of proteins.

Answer 48

chromosome

Question 49

Typically, a chromosome is about ___% by mass DNA and __% by mass protein.

Answer 49

15, 85

Question 50

Cells from different kinds of organisms have different numbers of chromosomes. A normal human has __ chromosomes per cell, a mosquito 6, a frog 26, a dog 78, and a turkey 82. Chromosomes occur in matched (homologous) pairs

Answer 50

46

Question 51

Dna —> (transcription) —> ____ (translation) —> protein

Answer 51

RNA

Question 52

The sugar unit in the backbone of RNA is ___; it is deoxyribose in DNA.

Answer 52

ribose

Question 53

It does not contain equal amounts of specific bases

Answer 53

RNA

Question 54

What are the 5 major types of RNA molecules

Answer 54

heterogeneous nuclear RNA (hnRNA) messenger RNA (mRNA) small nuclear RNA (snRNA) ribosomal RNA (rRNA) transfer RNA (tRNA)

Question 55

is RNA formed directly by DNA transcription. Post-transcription processing converts it to messenger RNA

Answer 55

Heterogeneous nuclear RNA (hnRNA)

Question 56

is RNA that carries instructions for protein synthesis (genetic information) to the sites for protein synthesis. The molecular mass of it varies with the length of the protein whose synthesis it will direct.

Answer 56

Messenger RNA (mRNA)

Question 57

is RNA that facilitates the conversion of heterogeneous nuclear RNA to messenger RNA. It contains from 100 to 200 nucleotides

Answer 57

Small nuclear RNA (snRNA)

Question 58

is RNA that combines with specific proteins to form ribosomes, the physical sites for protein synthesis. Ribosomes have molecular masses on the order of 3 million amu. The rRNA present in ribosomes has no informational function.

Answer 58

Ribosomal RNA (rRNA)

Question 59

is RNA that delivers amino acids to the sites for protein synthesis.

Answer 59

Transfer RNA (tRNA)

Question 60

They are the smallest of the RNAs, possessing only 75–90 nucleotide units