nucleic acids Flashcards
what are the two types of nucleic acid?
DNA and RNA
what is a nucleotide?
the monomer of a nucleic acid.
what are the components of a nucleotide?
- a phosphate group, an inorganic molecule which is acidic and negatively charged
- a pentose sugar, made up of five carbons
- a nitrogen base
how are nucleotides form a polynucleotide?
through a condensation reaction, this occurs where the phosphate group at the 5’ carbon of the pentose sugar of one of the nucleotides forms a covalent bond with hydoxyl (OH) group at the third (3’) carbon of the phosphate group of the adjacent nucleotide.
what bond joins necleotides to form a polynucleotide?
a phosphodiester bond
what pentose sugar does DNA contain?
deoxyribose
what is DNA full name?
deoxyribonnucleic acid (DNA)
what is the difference between deoxyribose and ribose sugar?
deoxyribose has one fewer oxygen atoms then ribose
how many different nitrogen bases are there? name them
- thymine
- cytosine
- adenine
- guanine
what are the two nitrogen base groups? what are the differences?
pyrimidines - the smaller bases, which contain single carbon ring structures ( thymine and cytosine)
purines - the larger bases, contain a double carbon ring structure (adenine and guanine)
what bases bind together? what type of bond and how many do they form?
thymine (T) and adenine (A) - two hydrogen bonds
cytosine (C) and guanine (G) - three hydrogen bonds
do the two strands in a DNA double helix structure run in the same directions?
no, they run in opposite directions
what is the importance of complementary base pairing?
means that a small pyrimidine will always bind to a larger purine, maintains a constant distance between the two backbones and always means the is a equal amount of each base pairs.
what is the specific name for RNA?
ribonucleic acid
what is RNA main role?
to transfer genetic information from DNA to the protein that make up enzymes and tissues of the body
