Nucleic Acids

• DNA

  • Double stranded
  • Contains deoxyribose sugar
  • Helical shape
• RNA

  • Single-stranded
  • Contains ribose sugar
  • Non helical
  • Involved in protein production
• Nucleic acids are made up of C,H,O and phosphate PO-4
• Nucleotides are monomers of DNA and RNA. 3 Components.

  • a phosphate group (bonded via phosphodiester bond)
  • A nitrogenous base (covalent bond)
  • Pentose sugar (deoxyribose/ ribose)
• DNA's nitrogenous bases

  • Adenine - Thymine
  • Cytosine - Guanine
• RNA's nitrogenous bases

  • Adenine - Uracil
  • Cytosine - Guanine
• How do nucleotides join?

  • join via condensation reactions
  • Form phosphodiester bonds
  • Sugar phosphate backbone
• Polynucleotide - Substance made of many nucleotides linked together in a chain. E.g, DNA or RNA
• Adenosine Tri phosphate (ATP)

  • Nucleotide with 3x phosphates
  • Ribose sugar
  • Adenine base

  
• (In respiration) ATP synthase enzymes in mitochondria
• Phosphorylated Nucleotides

  Two types:

  • ADP - Adenosine diphosphate ( two phosphate groups )
  • ATP - Adenosine triphosphate (three phosphate groups )
• How is ATP produced?

  ATP is produced through through oxidation reactions which break down food (glucose)
• ATP is hydrolysed to ADP to release energy and then re-synthesised
• ATP can't be transported from cell to cell, used by the cell it was created in
• ADP is converted back into ATP by adding a phosphate group. Reaction is catalysed by ATP synthase enzyme.
• Phosphorylation - Process where one or more phosphate groups are added to a molecule
• De-phosphorylation - Removal of one or more phosphate groups from a molecule