Nucleic acids, Bacteria and organelles Flashcards
What did Frederick Griffiths experiment with a non virulent and virulent strains of streptococcus pneumoniae show?
Showed that a non virulent strain could be converted to a virulent strain by mixing it with a heat killed virulent strain
Showed something was being transferred but hadnt yet identified what
What did Oswald and Avery’s experiments show?
Extracted DNA, RNA, Carbohydrate, protein and lipid from heat killed virulent strains and mixed each with the non virulent strain, only the DNA converted it to a virulen strain
Showed DNA was responsible for the transformation
What is Hershey and Chase’s experiments with bacteriophages show?
Bacteriophage T2 = virus made up of DNA/RNA core and a protein capsule
Grew one in radioactive sulphur - incorporated into proteins
Grew another in radioactive phosphorus - incorporated into the DNA
Only when bacteria were infected with bacteriophage grown in the radioactive phosphorus could radioactivity be seen
Confirmed Oswald and Avery’s findings
What did Watson and Crick’s discover and who’s work did they use to help?
Discovered the double helix formation of DNA
Used Rosalind Franklins X-ray crystallography
Used Wilkin’s evidence that %A=%T and %C=%G
They also recognised that this pointed to a mechanism for DNA replication
What is the sugar in DNA?
Deoxyribose
How are adjacent nucleotides joined in DNA?
Adjacent dexoyribose sugars are joined by phosphodiester bonds
How many fused rings of nitrogen do the purine bases contain and which are they?
They contain 2 fused nitrogen rings
Adenine and Guanine
How many fused rings of nitrogen do the pyridamine bases contain and which are they?
They contain 1 fused nitrogen ring
Cytosine, Thymine, Uracil
How are the bases in DNA joined?
H bonds
How many H bonds join A and T?
2
How many H bonds join C and G?
3
How is DNA arranged in eukaryotes compared to prokaryotes?
Coiled into chromosomes in eukaryotes (wound round proteins called histones)
Dispersed in cytoplasm in prokaryotes (no membrane bound organelles so no nucleus)
Is RNA double or single stranded?
Single
Which base is changed in RNA compared to DNA?
Uracil replaces thymine in RNA
What sugar makes RNA?
Ribose
How can the secondary structure of RNA be formed?
Base pairing between complementary bases of the same strand
Why is DNA replicationconsidered ‘semi conservative’?
Because the daughter DNA strands contain one strand of the original DNA and one newly synthesised strand
Which experiment proved the semi conservative nature of DNA replication and how briefly did it work?
Meselson Stahl experiment
Bacteria grown in heavy nitrogen (N15)
Then grown in light nitrogen (N14)
After rounds of replication, centrifuged, heavy = lower down in centrifuge
What is the ‘replication fork’?
Site at which DNA unwinds so DNA replication can begin
What is the origin of replication and what is there significance in eukaryotes?
Replication fork forms at the origins of replication
Have many of these in eukaryotes to speed up replication
Which enzyme is involved in unwinding DNA and seperating the DNA strands?
DNA Helicase
In DNA replication what holds the strands apart?
Single stranded binding proteins
What enzyme carries out DNA synthesis in DNA replication?
DNA polymerase
One on each strand, carry out DNA synthesis
Which direction does DNA replicate?
5’ to 3’
What are RNA primers, which enzyme in involved in their synthesis and why are they needed in DNA replication?
Short single stranded sections of RNA
Synthesised by DNA primase
Need a primer as need a free -OH group for the DNA polymerase to attach nucleotides to
What enzyme catalyses the formation of phosphodiester bond between 5’ phosphate group and 3’OH group?
DNA polymerase III
What are dNTPs and what is their role in DNA synthesis?
deoxynucleoside tri phosphates
Incoming dNTPs, bond forms between -OH group on 3’ end of strand being synthesised and phosphate group on dNTPs and then the other 2 phosphate groups from the dNTPs are released as pyrophosphates
This is a source of energy
Which is the leading strand and which is the lagging strand in DNA replication?
Leading strand is the 3’ to 5’ template
Lagging strand is the 5’ to 3’ template
In what pattern is DNA synthesised on leading strand template?
Contiuously
In what pattern is DNA synthesised on lagging strand template?
As okazaki fragments
DNA synthesis is in the opposite direction to the movement of the replication fork
DNA primase is required to lay down primers at regular intervals
Once RNA primers have been removed which enzyme is involved in replacing the RNA primers with DNA and which enzyme is involved in sealing the gaps?
DNA polymerase 1
DNA ligase seals the gaps
What is the difference between a nucleotide and a nucleoside?
Nucleotide = base + sugar + phosphate group Nucleoside = base + sugar
What are the 2 checking mechanisms we have for minimising error in DNA replication?
1) DNA polymerase has a 3’ proof reading function
2) Mismatch repair enzymes
EMS (ethyl methone sulphonate) is an example of a chemical carcinogen, how does it work?
EMS reacts with DNA to form 06-ethylguanine adduct which mispairs with thymine rather than cytosine at replication
Get G-C to A-T mutation
What are the 4 types of mutation?
1) Deletion
2) Substitution
3) Insertion
4) Rearrangement
What is the difference between base excision repair proteins and nucleotide excision repair proteins?
Base excision repair proteins cute out damaged bases
Nucleotide excision repair proteins are less specific and cut out whole sections of DNA
What does the enzyme Uracil-N-glycosylase do, in terms of DNA repair?
Uracil-N-glycosylase recognises the presence of uracil and cuts it out
Uracil can arise in DNA due to the deamination of cysteine
DNA polymerase I replaces the DNA and DNA ligase seals the gap
What are the 3 shapes of bacteria?
1) Spiral - Spirilla
2) Rod-shaped - Bacillus
3) Round - Cocci
What is the rough structure or prokaryotes?
Dispersed cytoplasm No membrane bound organells Inner membrane Rigid outer cell wall Outer membrane (but only in Gram negative bacteria)
What is the process of GRAM staining?
1) Fixation
2) Crystal Violet (goes blue)
3) Iodine (goes purple)
4) Decolourization
5) Counter stain (safranin - red)
What happens to Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria when counter stain is added?
Gram negative - do counter stain = RED
Gram positive - dont counter stain = PURPLE
What are bacterial cell walls made up of?
Peptidoglycan
Which type of bacteria contains lipoteichoic acid in its cell wall?
Gram positive
Which type of bacteria has a 2nd outer membrane?
Gram negative
Why do gram positive bacteria not counter stain?
Adding acetone or alcohol (Decolourisation) reacts with the lipid membranes and removes the outer layer to expose the peptidoglycan layer
In gram negatives this is thin so the stain is washed away and they counter stain
In gram positives this is multilayered so the crystal violet-iodine complexes are retained and they dont counter stain but stay blue
What is the function of a cell wall in bacteria?
1) Protects from lysis in hypotonic solutions
2) Protects from physical damage
3) Controls access of some chemicals to cell membranes
What are endospores?
Tough spherical forms that bacteria can assume that resist extreme temps,
Bacteria assume these in response to adverse environments and can remain dormant for thousands of years
Where is the capsule in gram negative and gram positive bacteria and why can this make gram negative more resistant to host cell phagocytosis?
Gram positive capsule is outside cell wall
Gram negative capsule is inside outer membrane, antigenic proteins are located on the capsule and in gram negative these antigenic proteins can be hidden making them resistant to host cell phagocytosis