Nucleic acids and their functions Flashcards
Nucleic acids are monomers/polymers
Polymers
What are the monomers of Nucleic acids?
Nucleotides
What is the name of a molecule containing many nucleotides?
Polynucleotides
they may be millions of nucleotides long
What are the 3 components of nucleotides?
- a phosphate group (same structure in all nucleotides)
- a pentose sugar
- an organic nitrogenous base
What is the pentose sugar in RNA?
What is the pentose sugar in DNA?
Ribose
Deoxyribose
What are the two groups of organic bases?
Pyrimidine & purine
What are the Pyrimidie bases?
Thymine and cytosine
What are the purine bases?
Adenine and guanine
In biological systems what energy makes the changes?
Chemical energy
What must happen for chemical reaction to occur?
Make or break bonds
Where does heterotrophic organisms (e.g. Animals) derive their chemical energy from?
Food
Where does autotrophic organisms (e.g. Plants) derive their energy from?
Light energy (which they convert to chemical energy in photosynthesis)
Where do organisms mainly tutors their chemical energy?
In lipids and carbohydrates
What is the molecule that makes energy available when it’s needed?
Adosine trophosphate (ATP)
How much ATP do we break down every day?
50g
The body only contains 5g of ATP, what does this suggest?
That ATP is not an energy store
When is ATP synthesised?
When energy is made available
When is ATP broken down?
When energy is needed
What are the components of ATP?
- Adenine
- ribose
- 3 phosphate groups
What is the enzyme that breaks down ATP?
How does it work?
ATPase
- It hydrolyses the bond between the second and third phosphate groups in ATP
- This removes the third phosphate group leaving only two
What is the ATP molecule hydrolysed into?
Adenosine diphosphte (ADP) and an inorganic phosphate ion
What is released when ATP is hydrolysed?
Chemical energy
How much energy is released when 1 mole of ATP is hydrolysed?
30.6KJ
What name is given to a reaction that releases energy?
An exergonic reaction