Unit 1 (1.5)

Question 1

What are monomers of nucleic acids?

Answer 1

Nucleotides

Question 2

What are the 3 components of nucleotides

Answer 2

Pentose sugar
Organic base
Phosphate group

Question 3

What are the two types or organic bases

Answer 3

Purine and Pyrimidine

Question 4

What is a purine

Answer 4

Class of organic bases
Double ring structure
Includes adenine and guanine

Question 5

What is a pyrimidine

Answer 5

Class of organic bases
Single ring structure
Includes cytosine, thymine, uracil

Question 6

Describe structure of DNA nucleotide

Answer 6

Deoxyribose
Organic base A,T G or C
Phosphate group

Question 7

Describe the structure of an RNA nucleotide

Answer 7

Ribose
Organic base A,U, C or G
Phosphate group

Question 8

Describe the structure of an ATP nucleotide

Answer 8

Ribose
Adenine
Three phosphate groups

Question 9

Describe the role of ATP

Answer 9

Universal energy currency, Hydrolysed to release energy

Question 10

What is the structure of ATP

Answer 10

ATP contains adenine, a ribose sugar, and three phosphates

Question 11

What is complementary base pairing?

Answer 11

Describes how hydrogen bonds form between complementary purine and pyrimidine bases
Two bonds form between A, T or U
Three bonds between G and C

Question 12

Describe the structure of DNA

Answer 12

Double-stranded polymer of nucleotides twisted to form a double helix
Nucleotides joined by phosphodiester bonds
Hydrogen bonds form between complementary base pairs A, T, C and G
Antiparallel strands

Question 13

Why are the strands of a DNA double helix described as antiparallel

Answer 13

The complementary strands run parallel but in opposite directions 5’ to 3’ and 3’ to 5’

Question 14

Describe the structure of RNA

Answer 14

Single-stranded polymer nucleotides
Nucleotides by phosphodiester bonds
Hydrogen bonds from between complementary base pairs A, U C and G

Question 15

Compare and contrast DNA and RNA

Answer 15

…

Question 16

What are the three types of RNA found in cells

Answer 16

Transfer RNA (tRNA)
Messenger RNA (mRNA)
Ribosomal RNA (rRNA)

Question 17

What is tRNA’s function

Answer 17

it carries specific amino acids to the ribosomes

Question 18

What is mRNA’s function

Answer 18

Carries genetic information from the nucleus to the ribosomes for synthesis

Question 19

What is rRNA’s function

Answer 19

Associates with proteins in the cytoplasm to form ribosomes

Question 20

Describe the triplet code for amino acids

Answer 20

A sequence of three nucleotides (codon) on a molecule of DNA or RNA codes for a particular amino acid in protein synthesis

Question 21

What is the genetic code?

Answer 21

The rules by which triplets in a DNA base sequence code for the sequence of amino acids in a polypeptide chain.
The genetic code is degenerate, universal and non-overlapping.

Question 22

What is an exon

Answer 22

A region of DNA that codes for an amino acid sequence

Question 23

What is an intron

Answer 23

A non-coding sequence of DNA that is found between exons

Question 24

What are the two major functions of DNA

Answer 24

Protein synthesis and Replication

Question 25

What is protein synthesis

Answer 25

The formation of proteins from amino acids. There are two stages transcription and translation

Question 26

What is transcription

Answer 26

First stage of protein synthesis The formation of pre-mRNA in eukaryotes and mRNA in prokaryotes from a section of the template strand of DNA

Question 27

What happens to the polypeptide after translation?

Answer 27

Further modified by adding carbohydrates, lipids or phosphates Different polypeptides may be combined

Question 27

What is the 'one gene one polypeptide' hypothesis?

Answer 27

The theory that each gene encodes a single protein