Organic 26: Nucleosides, Nucleotides, & Nucleic Acids Flashcards
Nucleic acids
acidic substances present in the nuclei of cells; primary substances involved in the storage, transmission, and processing of genetic information
Pyrimidine
heterocyclic (hexagonal) aromatic compound with 2 N’s meta to each other
Purine
heterocyclic (hexagon bonded to pentagon)
Nucleosides
glycosylamines in which a pyrimidine or purine nitrogen is bonded to the anomeric carbon of a carbohydrate
Nucleotides
phosphoric acid esters of nucleosides
Adenosine 5’-diphosphate
ADP
Adenosine 5’-triphosphate
ATP; main energy-storing molecule for practically every form of life on Earth
Phosphodiester
joins 2 nucleosides
Polynucleotide
adding nucleotides to a 3’-oxygen of an existing structure is called elongation and leads ultimately to this; most important ones are DNA and RNA
Oligonucleotides
polynucleotides of modest chain length (50 or fewer)
Genome
the aggregate of all the genes that determine what an organism becomes
Double helix
the form in which DNA normally appears in living systems; 2 complementary strands of DNA are associated with each other by hydrogen bonds between their base pairs, and each DNA strand adopts a helical shape
Transcription
construction of a strand of mRNA complementary to a DNA template
Translation
the “reading” of mRNA by various tRNAs, each one of which is unique for a particular amino acid
Messenger RNA (mRNA)
a polynucleotide of ribose that “reads” the sequence of bases in DNA and interacts with tRNAs in the ribosomes to promote protein biosynthesis
Genetic code
message carried by mRNA
Codons
triplets of adjacent nucleotide bases; makes up the genetic code
Transfer RNA (tRNA)
small nucleic acids, containing only about 70 nucleotides; transfer amino acids to the ribosome for incorporation into a polypeptide
Anticodon
group of 3 bases complementary to the mRNA codon for the amino acid being transferred
Ribosomal RNA (rRNA)
the RNA in a cell’s ribosomes
Ribozymes
RNAs that catalyze biological processes
