Section 1 - Nucleic Acid Flashcards
Give two examples of Nuclei Acids
- Ribonucleic acid (RNA)
- Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
What makes DNA so distinguishable?
- Its double helix structure
- Meaning the material can pass on the features of organisms from one generation to the next.
What does DNA do?
Carries genetic information.
What are the components of nucleotides?
- A pentose sugar (5 carbon atoms)
- A phosphate group
- A nitrogen-containing organic base.
State the different nitrogenous bases
- Cytosine C
- Thymine T
- Uracil U
- Adenine A
- Guanine G
What reaction joins the components of nucleic acids?
Condensation Reactions - To form a single nucleotide.
Explain the reaction between two mononucleotides
May be joined as a result of a condensation reaction between the deoxyribose sugar of one mononucleotide and the other phosphate group of another.
A phosphodiester bond is formed.
This new structure is called a dinucleotide.
What is the name given to two mononucleotides that have been bonded?
Dinucleotide
State the name of the bond formed between two mononucleotides
Phosphodiester
What nitrogenous bases are in DNA?
Adenine Thymine Guanine Cytosine
What nitrogenous bases are in RNA?
Adenine Uracil Guanine Cytosine
What is the name given to a long chain of nucleic acids?
Polynucleotides
Explain the structure of Ribonucleic acids
RNA
- Polymer made up of nucleotides
- A single relativity short polynucleotide chain
- The pentose sugar is always Ribose
- Organic bases are A G C U
What does RNA do?
- Transfers genetic information from DNA to the ribosomes.
- These ribosomes are made up of proteins and another type of RNA.
- A third type of RNA is involved in protein synthesis.
What pentose sugar is in RNA?
Ribose
In what year was DNA discovered?
1953
How was DNA discovered?
An x-ray diffraction patterns of DNA by Rosalind Franklin.
Opening the door to many more major developments in biology
What pentose sugar is in DNA?
Deoxyribose
Explain the structure of DNA
- The pentose sugar is deoxyribose
- The organic bases are GC TA
- Made of two strands of nucleotides
- Each of the strands is very long and joined by hydrogen bonds
- The phosphate and deoxyribose molecules alternate to form the uprights and organic bases pair together to form the rungs of ‘ladder’.
What bonds are formed between the strands of DNA?
Hydrogen Bonds
What holds together two strands of DNA?
The hydrogen bonds - Each strand is attracted to each other by these bonds.
What varies between DNA species?
The ratio of A+T and G+C varies from species to species.
Explain the double helix structure
- Ladder-like arrangement
- Two polynucleotide chains being twisted.
- The uprights of phosphate and deoxyribose wind around one another to form a double helix.
- They form the structural backbone of the DNA molecule.
Why is DNA a stable molecule?
- The phosphodiester backbone unreactive protecting those insides
-
Hydrogen bonds link the organic base pairs forming bridges (rungs)
- CG - 3 Hydrogen bonds
- AT - 2 hydrogen bonds
-
Hydrogen bonds link the organic base pairs forming bridges (rungs)
- Base stacking is another interactive force between the base pairs that hold molecules together.
What can make DNA a more stable molecule?
The higher proportion of C-G pairings
What is the function of DNA?
The hereditary material responsible for passing genetic information from cell to cell and generation to generation.
How many base pairs are there in the DNA of a typical mammalian cell?
Around 3.2 billion
What causes genetic diversity within living organisms?
The almost infinite variety of sequences of bases along the length of a DNA molecule.
How are DNA molecules adapted to its function?
- A very stable structure
- strands joined with hydrogen bonds, allowing separation during DNA replication and protein synthesis.
- An extremely large molecule and carries an immense amount of genetic information
- Having base pairs within the helical cylinder of the deoxyribose-phosphate backbone protects from being corrupted by outside chemical and physical forces
What is DNA transferred as?
mRNA
What shape is given to the deoxyribose-phosphate backbone of DNA?
Helical Cylinder
What does the function of DNA depend on?
The sequence of base pairs that it possesses. This sequence if important to everything it does and indeed to life itself.
Explain experiments that give evidence that DNA was the material that had provided the bacteria with the genetic information needed to make a virus.
- viruses infect bacteria
- Virus made of protein and DNA, one or the other must possess the instructions that the bacteria use to make new viruses
- The protein and DNA in the viruses labelled with a different radioactive element.
- One sample of bacteria was infected by viruses with radioactive protein while another sample was infected by viruses with radioactive DNA
- In a later stage, the viruses and bacteria in both samples were separated from one another
- Only the sample with bacteria that had been infected by viruses labelled with radioactive DNA showed signs of radioactivity.
How can you link bacterium, DNA and viruses?
DNA can be passed from one bacterium to another by viruses.
What is attached to the 3’ carbon atom in a nuclei acid?
A hydroxyl group
What is attached to the 5’ carbon atom in a nuclei acid?
A phosphate group
What two carbon atoms should you know in nuclei acids?
3’ - 3-prime
5’ - 5-prime
Explain the carbon arrangement in a double stands of DNA
One strand runs in the 5’ to 3’ direction while the other runs the opposite 3’ to 5’ direction
Antiparallel
Which way are nucleic acids synthesised?
in vivo The 5’ to 3’ direction
Why can nucleic acids only be synthesised in one direction?
5’ to 3’ direction Enzyme DNA polymerase that assembles nucleotides into a DNA molecule can only attach nucleotides to the hydroxyl (OH) group on the 3 carbon molecule.