Nucleic Acids and Nucleotides Flashcards
What are nucleotides?
Subunits of Nucleic Acids
How do nucleic acids exist?
They exist as polymers = polynucleotides
What do polynucleotides consist of?
They consist of monomers called nucleotides
What three things are nucleotides composed of?
Nitrogenous base
Pentose (5 carbon sugar)
Phosphate group (s) (1-3)
What are nucleosides?
Molecules composed of nitrogenous base linked to 5-carbon sugar (no phophate)
What are the base components of nucleotides?
Nitrogen-containing rings (bases)
2 families
What are the 2 families of nucleotides?
Pyrimidines
Purines
What are the three pyrimidines?
Cytosine
Thymine
Uracil
What are the two purines?
Guanine
Adenine
What is the sugar component of nucleotides?
5-carbon sugar is either ribose or deoxyribose
What is the phosphate component of nucleotides?
2
Nucleotides have 1,2 or 3 phosphate groups
They are attached to the C5OH part of the ribose or deoxyribose (the 5’ position)
What are nucleotides containing ribose called?
Ribonucleotides
What are nucleotides containing deoxyribose called?
Deoxyribonucleotides
What are the two main types of nucleic acid?
Ribonucleic acids
Deoxyribonucleic acids
What are genes?
Portions of DNA