Nucleic acids structure and Mutations Flashcards
lecture 2
Mention the components of nucleic acid
- Phosphate groups
- Pentose sugar
- A nitrogenous base (purines including Adenine (A) and Guanine (G); and pyrimidines including Cytosine (C), Thiamine (T) and Uracil (U))
- RNA and DNA are two main nucleic acids
Define a nucleoside
A nucleoside a molecule is composed of a purine or pyrimidine base and a ribose or deoxyribose sugar
what is a nucleotide composed of
nucleotide is composed of nucleoside and phosphate group
5 functions of RNA
- Directs translation
- Ribosomal RNA have structural and enzymatic roles.
- Delivery of amino acids
- Participates in posttranscriptional processing
- Carrier of hereditary information in some viruses
Mention the 4 DNA stabilizing forces
- Sugar-phosphate chain conformation
- Base pairing using hydrogen bonds
- Base stacking and hydrophobic interactions
- Ionic interactions
What are the functions of DNA
- directs its own replication
- Direct the transcription of complementary RNA molecules
Define DNA mutation
The genotypic change as compared to the normal sequence
risk factors for DNA mutation
- Exposure to mutagenic agents like UV light, intercalating agents
- Errors in DNA replication and repair
Define polymorphism
Multiple forms of a gene or sequence variants with no obvious effect upon phenotype may be termed
under pont mutations, describe the other minor mtations under it
- Missense – results in a different amino acid
- Nonsense – results in stop codon hence termination of translation of the protein
- Silent - results in the same amino acid
- Transition - a purine replaced by a purine or a pyrimidine by a pyrimidine
- Transversion - a purine replaced by a pyrimidine or vice versa
Mention 2 types of mutations
- Point mutation
- Frameshift muatation
define frameshift mutation
The mutations that cause all of the subsequent three-letter codons to be changed
what does the cenral Dogma of biology states
The usual flow of genetic information is from DNA to mRNA to polypeptide
examples of frameshift mutation
- Deletions: involved loss of one or more nucleotides
- Insertion: involves the addition of one or more nucleotides into a gene
what are the two effects of mutations on proteins
- Loss-of-function: mutations can result in either reduced activity or complete loss of the gene product.
- Gain-of-function: mutations, result in either increased levels of gene expression or the development of a new function(s) of the gene product
Mention 6 enzymes that takes part in DNA replcation
- DNA topoisomerases
- Helicase
- RNA polymerase and primase
- Exonucleases
- Single strand binding proteins (SSBs)
- Ligases
what separates the two standed double helix of the DNA
DNA helicase