Nucleotides And Nucleic Acids Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the two types of nucleic acids

A

DNA

RNA

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2
Q

What are the monomer and polymer of a nucleic acid

A

Monomer- nucleotide

Polymer-nucleic acid

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3
Q

What are the 3 components of a nucleotide

A

Phosphate
Pentose (5C) sugar
Organic nitrogenous base

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4
Q

Name the elements found in dna and rna nucleotides

A
Carbon
Hydrogen
Nitrogen
Phosphorus 
Oxygen
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5
Q

What reactions take place to make a nucleotide

What does this mean

A

Two condensation reactions

2 water molecules are released

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6
Q

Name the bases present in dna and rna

A

DNA-ATGC

RNA-AUGC

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7
Q

What happens during the formation of nucleic acids

A

The phosphate group at the 5th carbon of pentose sugar of one nucleotide forms a covalent bond with the OH group at the third carbon of pentose sugar of an adjacent nucleotide

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8
Q

What is another name for the covalent bond formed between nucleotides

A

A phoshodiester bonds

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9
Q

Describe the strands in DNA

A

It’s double stranded

They run antiparallel

Each strand has a phosphate group at one end and a hydroxyl group at other

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10
Q

How are dna strands attached together

A

By hydrogen bonds

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11
Q

What happens to the strands of dna

A

They coil into a helix called a double helix

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12
Q

Name two purines

A

Adenine

Guanine

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13
Q

What is a purine

A

2 rings of carbon atoms

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14
Q

Name the two Pyrimidines

A

Thymine

Cytosine

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15
Q

What is a pyrimidine

A

Has 1 ring of carbon

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16
Q

Which bases form two hydrogen bonds

A

Adenine

Thymine

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17
Q

Which bases form 3 hydrogen bonds

A

Guanine

Cytosine

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18
Q

What is chargraffs rule

A

Adenine must pair with thymine
Guanine must pair with cytosine

There are equal amounts of A and T
There are equal amounts of G and C

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19
Q

What is the job of RNA

A

DNA stores all genetic info but is too big to fit out the nucleus

Short sections of dna molecule corresponding to a single gene are transcribed into a short messenger RNA molecule (single stranded)

This can leave the nucleus and go to the ribosome for protein synthesis

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20
Q

What is mRNA

A

A polymer composed of many nucleotide monomers - it’s a polynucleotide

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21
Q

Three similarities between RNA and DNA

A

5 carbon sugar
Bases of CGA
Has a phosphate group

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22
Q

Three differences between RNA & DNA

A

rna single stranded dna double stranded
Rna has uracil instead of thymine in dna
Rna has ribose sugar and dna has deoxyribose sugar

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23
Q

Explain the dna precipitation (peas) experiment

A

Peas mashed up
Washing liquid added
Add protease enzyme
Add ethanol on top -causes dna to precipitate out of the solution
White strands of dna form between the same and layer of alcohol

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24
Q

Where does dna replication occur

A

In the nucleus

25
Q

Explain the stages of semiconservative DNA replication

A

1) the DNA helix unwinds by action of gyrase enzyme
2) Strands separate by action of helicase enzyme which breaks the hydrogen bonds between complimentary bases
3) Free DNA nucleotides are attracted and with the complimentary bases and hydrogen bonds form
4) DNA polymerase forms the sugar phosphate backbone by forming phosphodiester bond

26
Q

What enzyme unwinds the dna helix

A

Gyrase

27
Q

What enzyme separate strands in DNA replication

A

Helicase

28
Q

What bonds form in the sugar phosphate backbone

A

Phosphodiester bond

29
Q

Why do we call semiconservative DNA replication that

A

Because two identical copies of DNA are made and each DNA molecule has one original strand and one new strand each original strand acts as a template

30
Q

Describe nitrogen 15

A

Heavy - dense- bottom of test tube

31
Q

Describe nitrogen 14

A

Light- less dense- forms at top of test tube

32
Q

Why is the sequence of organic bases in DNA important

A

The sequence of bases determines the sequence of amino acid’s in the primary structure

33
Q

What is an advantage of the double helix structure

A

It gives the molecule stability

34
Q

What is a codon

A

Three bases that code for an amino acid

35
Q

What does it mean by non-overlapping

A

Each nucleotide is only part of one triplet of bases

36
Q

What is the de-generative code

A

There are a lot more codons than amino acids

37
Q

What is the universal code

A

The same specific base triplets code for the same amino acids in all living organisms

38
Q

What is Protein synthesis used for and where does it occur

A

Used for making proteins it happens in the nucleus and at the ribosomes

39
Q

Define Gene

A

The sequence of nucleotide bases in DNA which determine the sequence of amino acid in the polypeptide chain

40
Q

What is the purpose of transcription

Where does it occur

A

Makes mRNA from DNA

Occurs in the nucleus

41
Q

Explain the process of transcription

A

1) The enzyme DNA helicase unwinds and unzips the DNA helix
2) Hydrogen bonds are broken the DNA helix unwinds in the region of the chromosome that codes for the gene
3) Complimentary RNA nucleotides come into position to form a complimentary copy of the gene known as mRNA
4) RNA polymerase joins RNA nucleotides to make the mRNA this is a condensation reaction
5) Phosphodiester bonds formed between the RNA nucleotides this forms the sugar phosphate backbone

42
Q

What is the strand of DNA that contains coded information called

A

The sense strand

43
Q

What does the antisense strand to do during transcription

A

It acts as a template which means the RNA strand carries the same base sequence as the Sense strand

44
Q

What does DNA helicase do

A

Breaks hydrogen bonds between base pairs so that the section of DNA containing the gene unzips

45
Q

What does RNA polymerase do in transcription

A

Forms phosphodiester bonds between RNA nucleotides to make messenger RNA
forms of sugar phosphate backbone

46
Q

What is the purpose of translation and where does it occur

A

At the ribosome and it makes a protein from messenger RNA

47
Q

What is the purpose of ribosomal RNA

A

How old is the messenger RNA in position while it is translated into a specific sequence of amino acid

48
Q

What is the ribosome composed of

A

Two subunits one large and one small and these are composed of proteins and ribosomal RNA

49
Q

What happens during translation

A

2) Transfer RNA with the complimentary anticodon to start the code on comes into the ribosome and binds to the mRNA start codon
4) the Next transfer RNA with the anti codon complimentary to the next codon it brought in to the ribosome
5) The peptide bond forms between the two amino acid’s
6) This is catalysed by an enzyme called peptidyl transferase
7) The stages are repeated with another amino acid being added each time to the polymer

50
Q

What is the overall job of the codon

A

Codons on a mRNA determine the specific transfer RNA that comes into position

51
Q

What is the role of transfer RNA

A

To bring in specific amino acid’s to the ribosome in the correct order

52
Q

What are the amino acid’s then join together bye

A

Peptide bonds

53
Q

Name the enzyme that catalyse is translation

A

Peptidyl transferase

54
Q

What does ATP stand for

A

Adenosine Triphosphate

55
Q

Describe the structure of adenosine

A

There are three phosphate’s, a pentose sugar and a nitrogenous base which is Adenine

56
Q

What is ATP used for

A

Energy transfer in all cells of living organisms

57
Q

In ATP what is not stable

A

The phosphate bonds are not stable this means ATP is not a good long-term store of energy

58
Q

What is ADP

A

Where ATP loses a phosphate, bond is broken as this is the hydrolysis reaction and water is used

59
Q

Name 4 properties of ATP

A

It is small so it’s easily to move into and out of cells
It is soluble in water
Releases energy in small quantities
Energy is contained in the bonds between phosphate is large enough for cell reactions