nucleotides Flashcards
what are nucleotides made from?
- a pentose sugar (with 5 carbon atoms)
- a nitrogenous base
- a phosphate group
what elements do nucleotides contain?
- CHONP - carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen phosphorus
why are nucleotides important?
- they are the monomers that make up DNA and RNA which are both types of nucleic acid.
what is DNA used for?
- to store genetic information
what is RNA used for?
- to make proteins from the instructions in DNA
what are the pentose sugars in DNA called?
- deoxyribose
what is the structure of DNA?
- deoxyribose, a phosphate group and a base
what are the two purines?
- Adenine
- Guanine
what are the two pyramidines?
- Cytosine
- Thymine ( and uracil in RNA)
what is a purine?
- a base containing two carbon-nitrogen rings joined together
what is a pyramidine?
a base that only has one carbon-nitrogen ring
which base is smaller? purine or pyramidine
- pyrimidine
what is the sugar in RNA called?
- ribose
what is the structure of RNA?
- ribose, a phosphate group and one of four bases
how many nucleotide chains are found in RNA?
- one
how many nucleotide chains are found in DNA?
- two
what are phosphorylated nucleotides?
- a nucleotide with one or more phosphate groups added to it
- for example ADP and ATP
describe ATP
- provides energy for chemical reactions in the cell
- a phosphorylated nucleotide
- synthesized from ADP and an inorganic phosphate
- contains a phosphate bond where energy is stored and released when required by breaking the bond
what do nucleotides form to create?
polynucleotides
what is the chain of sugars and phosphates known as?
the sugar phosphate backbone
how are polynucleotides broken down?
by hydrolysis of the phosphodiester bonds
how do nucleotides join up?
they join up through the phosphate group of one nucleotide and the sugar of another via a condensation reaction
how do two polynucleotide strands join together?
hydrogen bonding between the bases
how many bonds form between adenine and thymine?
two
how many bonds form between cytosine and guanine
three
how many polynucleotide strands twist to form the DNA double helix?
two antiparallel polynucleotide
how can you purify DNA?
using a precipitation reaction
how do you carry out a precipitation reaction to purify DNA?
- Break up the cells using a blender
- Add the cells to a detergent solution containing salt and distilled water and leave in a water bath at 60° for 15 minutes
- Put the beaker in an ice bath to cool down
- Filler the mixture
- As protease enzymes
- Dribble some ice cold ethanol down the side of the tube so it forms a layer on top of the detergent DNA mixture
- Leave for a minute and a white precipitation will form which you can remove with a glass rod
What do protease enzymes do?
break down proteins