Nucleic Acids And Their Functions

Question 1

What are nucleic acids made up of?

Answer 1

Nucleotides

Question 2

What are the components of nucleotides?

Answer 2

• a phosphate group ( same structure in all nucleotides)
• a pentose sugar
• organic base/ nitrogenous base

Question 3

What are the two groups of organic bases?

Answer 3

Pyrimidine: thymine cytosine uracil

Purine: adenine guanine

Question 4

What does ATP contain?

Answer 4

Adenine
Ribose
3 phosphate groups

Question 5

What are the advantages of using ATP as a source of energy compared to glucose?

Answer 5

• single reaction
• only one enzyme needed
• releases energy in small amounts
• common source of energy for many reactions - increase efficiency

Question 6

What are the the roles of ATP?

Answer 6

• metabolic processes
• active transport
• movement
• nerve transmission

Question 7

How is DNA suited to its function?

Answer 7

• stable molecule
• large molecule
• 2 strands are able to separate
• base pairs on the inside

Question 8

What are the 3 types of RNA?

Answer 8

Messenger RNA
Ribosomal RNA
Transfer RNA

Question 9

What were the 3 possibilities for the mechanism of DNA replication?

Answer 9

• conservative replication
• semi conservative replication
• dispersive replication

Question 10

Characteristics of the genetic code

Answer 10

• triplet code
• degenerate
• punctuated
• universal
• non overlapping