Nucleic acids key words

Question 1

Deoxyribonucleic acid which is present in nearly all living organisms as the carrier of genetic information. A double helix made up of two polynucleotide chains, running antiparallel to each other, with the sugar-phosphate backbone on the outside and organic bases bonded together by Hydrogen bonds in the centre of the helix. The nucelotides have a deoxyribose sugar and the bases adenine, thymine, guanine or cytosine

Answer 1

DNA

Question 2

Complex chemicals made up of an organic base, a sugar and a phosphate. They are the basic units of which the nucelic acids DNA and RNA are made

Answer 2

Nucleotide

Question 3

A polymer of monomers called nucleotides

Answer 3

Polynucleotide

Question 4

The bond formed by a condensation reaction between the phosphate group of one nucleotide and the pentose sugar of another nucleotide

Answer 4

Phosphodiester bond

Question 5

Part of a nucleotide - either adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine or uracil

Answer 5

Organic base

Question 6

A polynucleotide which contains nucleotides that have the pentose sugar ribose rather than deoxyribose and contains the bases adenine, uracil, guanine or cytosine. Can be either mRNA, tRNA or rRNA

Answer 6

RNA

Question 7

Specific rules for how the bases pair together. Adenine pairs with thymine with 2 hydrogen bonds. Guanine binds with cytosine with 3 hydrogen bonds

Answer 7

Complimentary base pairing

Question 8

Structure of DNA made up of 2 strands of nucleotides running in opposite directions

Answer 8

Double helix

Question 9

The process in which the double helix of a DNA molecule unwinds and each strand acts as a template on which a new strand is constructed

Answer 9

Semiconservative replication

Question 10

Enzyme that acts on a specific region of the DNA molecule to break the hydrogen bonds between the bases causing the two strands to separate and expose the nucelotide bases in that region

Answer 10

DNA helicase

Question 11

Enzyme that joins DNA nucleotides together in a condensation reaction (forming phosphodiester bonds) during DNA replication

Answer 11

DNA polymerase

Question 12

An activated nucleotide found in all living organisms, which is produced during respiration and acts as an energy carrier. The hyrdolysis of ATP (catalyzed by ATP hydrolase) leads to the formation of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and inorganic phosphate, with the release of energy

Answer 12

ATP (adenosine triphosphate)

Question 13

A nucleotide which combines in a condensation reaction, catalysed by ATP synthase, with a phosphate molecule to form ATP

Answer 13

ADP

Question 14

An enzyme which catalyses the formation of ATP

Answer 14

ATP synthase

Question 15

An enzyme which catalyses the hydrolysis of ATP

Answer 15

ATP hydrolase

Question 16

Group of enzymes that catalyse the formation of polymers from monomers

Answer 16

Polymerases

Question 17

The amount of energy needed to change the temperature of 1kg of the substance by 1ºC

Answer 17

Specific heat capacity

Question 18

The heat energy needed to change the substance from a liquid at its boiling point into gas at the same temperature

Answer 18

Latent heat of vaporisation

Question 19

Attraction between molecules of the same type. It is important in the movement of water up a plant

Answer 19

Cohesion

Question 20

The tension of the surface film of a liquid caused by the attraction of the particles in the surface layer by the bulk of the liquid

Answer 20

Surface tension

Question 21

The liquid in which a solute is dissolved to form a solution

Answer 21

Solvent

Question 22

Formed when an element or compound, that does not contain carbon, gains or looses electrons to become negatively or positively charged, for example: hyrdogen ions, phosophate ions, iron ions and sodium ions

Answer 22

Inorganic ions

Question 23

A material that allows light to pass through so that objects behind can be distinctly seen

Answer 23

Transparent