u1: nucleic acids Flashcards
what do nucleic acids contain
- genetic information of an organism
- format of stored information
- to be expressed, it must be in the format of a protein (amino acid) sequence
what are the types of nucleic acids
- DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid
- RNA: ribonucleic acid
what are nucleic acids composed of?
- nucleotide monomers
- nucleotide: phosphate group, 5 carbon sugar (pentose), nitrogenous base
whats the difference between DNA and RNA
- DNA: has sugar deoxyribose, + adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine
- RNA: has sugar ribose + adenine, uracil, guanine, cytosine + is single-stranded
pyramidine bases
- single ringed
- uracil, thymine, cytosine
purine bases
- two-ringed
- adenine, guanine
how are the nitrogenous bases classified?
- pyramidines
- purines
where are nitrogenous bases attached?
carbon 1
why do we want hydrogen bonds in DNA?
so that they can “open and close” the code to be read
what makes up the nucleic acid polymer?
long strand of nucleotides
what two major interactions make up the DNA polymer?
- phosphodiester bonds: make up the strands (backbone)
- hydrogen bonds: occur between nitrogenous bases to keep double helix together
what interactions occur more in RNA?
- it is single-stranded
- has more phosphodiester bonds
- less hydrogen bonds
how do the nitrogenous bases pair in DNA?
A-T
C-G
how do the nitrogenous bases pair in RNA?
A-U
C-G
anti-parallel meaning
- in DNA, the two strands are in opposite directions to each other
what is special about DNA
they are anti-parallel
what is another nucleotide?
- ATP
- adenosine triphosphate
what is ATP? its structure?
- a molecule with high energy bonds
- three phosphate groups (triphosphate) attached to a ribose attached to an adenine
- second and third phosphate groups attached by high energy covalent bonds
how is ATP hydrolyzed? its equation?
- enzymes called ATPases hydrolyze the third high energy phosphate bond
- ATP = ADP + Pi + Energy
difference between ATP and RNA
- ATP only has three phosphate groups
- RNA has one
difference between deoxyribose and ribose
- ribose has an OH on carbon 2
- deoxyribose has an H on carbon 2
what is special about RNA when it is getting made?
it is antiparallel
