Lesson 1: Nucleic Acids

• nucleic acids - large biomolecules that involves the storage and expression of genomic information
• nucleotides - monomer of nucleic acids
• Nucleotide consists of:

  A) phosphate group

  B) ribose or deoxyribose

  C) nitrogenous base

  
• DNA and RNA - polymers of nucleic acids
• DNA - a double-stranded molecule that has a long chain of nucleotides, which is responsible for storing and transferring genetic information
• RNA - a single-stranded molecule that has a shorter chain of nucleotides, directly codes for amino acids and acts as a messenger between DNA and ribosomes to make proteins
• deoxyribose - a pentose 5-C sugar that lacks hydroxide in no.2 carbon
• ribose - a pentose 5-C sugar present in RNA
• Deoxyribonucleic acid

  • Deoxyribo: deoxyribose that lacks OH in no. 2 carbon
  • Nucleic: mostly found in nucleus
  • Acid: due to the presence of phosphate
• ATGC - DNA nitrogenous bases
• AUGC - RNA nitrogenous bases
• purines -  two-carbon nitrogen ring bases
• pyrimidines - one-carbon nitrogen ring bases
• DNA Purines:

  • Adenine
  • Guanine
• DNA Pyrimidines:

  • Thymine
  • Cytosine
• Antiparallel - structure of double helix sugar-phosphate backbones
• DNA backbones are made of a chain of alternating phosphate groups & sugar deoxyribose
• DNA Direction - strand - nitrogenous base:

  • 5' to 3' - left-hand strand - pyrimidine
  • 3' to 5' - right-hand strand - purine
• • right-hand strand - template/antissense/non-coding strand in 3' to 5' direction
  • left-hand strand - nontemplate/sense/coding strand in 5' to 3' direction
• template strand - noncoding strand
• nontemplate strand - coding strand because its sequence will be the same as that of the new RNA molecule
• Ribonucleic acid

  • Ribo: ribose 5-C sugar
  • Nucleic: mostly found in the nucleus
  • Acid: due to the presence of phosphate
• RNA Purines:

  • Adenine
  • Guanine
• RNA Pyrimidines:

  • Uracil
  • Cytosine
• uracil - makes RNA less stable to be able to transfer information
• transcription - 3’ → 5’ DNA (non-coding strand) converts to 5’ → 3’ mRNA
• translation - each CODON with 3 NUCLEOBASES form a corresponding AMINO ACID to form protein
• AUG - start codon (INITIATION)
• methionine - start codon (INITIATION)
• UAA, UAG, UGA - stop codons (TERMINATION)
• rRNA - rna with structural role in ribosomes
• microRNA - small non-coding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression
• microRNA - short chains of RNA that regulate translation of other RNA molecules
• mRNA - contains the codons for protein production
• tRNA - recognizes the codon in mRNA
• rRNA - main component of ribosomes
• replication - process of making new copies of DNA for conservation of inherited traits
• transcription - process by which DNA is copied to mRNA, which is used for protein synthesis
• translation - process by which a protein is produced from the mRNA
• Label the following diagram:

  A) replication

  B) transcription

  C) translation