Nucleic Acids

Question 1

what 2 components make up a nucleoside

Answer 1

a base and sugar

Question 2

what 3 components make up an RNA and DNA nucleotide

Answer 2

RNA = ribose, base and phosphate
DNA = deoxyribose, base and phosphate

Question 3

what are the 4 bases in RNA and DNA

Answer 3

RNA = adenine, guanine, cytosine, uracil
DNA = adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine

Question 4

what are the RNA and DNA building blocks

Answer 4

RNA = ATP, GTP, CTP, UTP (adenosine-triphosphate)
DNA = dATP, dCTP, dGTP, dTTP (deoxy-adenosine-triphosphate)

Question 5

explain the process of polymerisation and what is consumed during the process

Answer 5

a nucleotide forms a phosphodiester bond between its 5’ end and the free 3’ end of the DNA/RNA strand. This consumes two high-energy bonds as 2 of the phosphates are used up

Question 6

what direction are nucleic acids in, aka what direction can nucleotides be added

Answer 6

new nucleotides can only be added on the free 3’ end of the acid

Question 7

describe the structure of DNA

Answer 7

two anti-parallel(5’ to 3’ and vice versa) nucleotide strands with a sugar-phosphate backbone and bonded together by hydrogen bonds between the complimentary base pairs. double helix