topic 2.3

• what is an adenosine triphosphate (ATP) ?

  A nucleotide consisting of a molecule of ribose joined to the nitrogenous base adenine and three phosphate groups.
• What is a degenerate (Genetic code) ?

  A term used to describe the fact that some amino acids can be coded for by multiple different codons
• What is deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) ?

  A double stranded polynucleotide that contains the genetic material of an organism and is made up of deoxyribonucleotide monomers joined together by phosphodiester bonds.
• What is a DNA Nucleotide?

  The monomer that makes up DNA and consists of deoxyribose, a nitrogenous base and a phosphate group.
• What is a DNA polymerase?

  An enzyme that catylses the formation of phosphodiester bonds between nucleotides during the synthesis of a new DNA strand
• What is RNA polymerase?

  An enzyme that catalyses the formation of phosphodiester bonds between nucleotides during the synthesis of a new RNA strand.
• What is helicase?

  An enzyme that catalyses the unwinding and unzipping of DNA in many processes like replication for translation.
• What is Messenger RNA (mRNA) ?


  A type of RNA that carries genetic information from the DNA in the nucleus to the ribosomes for translation.
• What is non-overlapping (Genetic code) ?

  A term used to describe the fact that each base is only part of one codon and that each codon is read one at a time in order.
• What is a nucleotide ?

  The monomer from which nucleic acids are made that consists of a pentose sugar, nitrogenous base and phosphate group.
• What is a phosphodiester bond?

  A type of bond that joins nucleotides together to create polynucleotides.
• What are purines?

  A class of nitrogenous bases which are made up of two rings that adenine and guanine are members of.
• What are pyrimidines?

  A class of nitrogenous bases which are made up of a single ring that cytosine and thymine and uracil are members of.
• What is Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) ?


  A type of RNA that makes up ribosomes.
• What is a RNA nucleotide?

  The monomer that makes up RNA and consists of ribose, a nitrogenous base and a phosphate group.
• What is semi-conservative replication?

  The replication of DNA to produce two new DNA molecules which both contain one new strand and one old strand from the original DNA molecule.
• What is translation?

  The process of protein synthesis where complementry tRNAs carrying amino acids are brought to each codon in an mRNA molecule as it moves through a ribosome.
• What is transcription?

  The process where of sunthesising a new mRNA strand from a molecule of DNA
• What is a triplet genetic code?

  A term used to descrbie the fact that DNA is grouped into three base long codons rthat are read together and code for an amino acid
• What is a universal genetic code?

  A term used to describe the fact that the same codons code for the same amino acids in all organisms