L4 nucleic acids

• examples of nucleic acids

  DNA, RNA
• process to go from DNA to RNA

  transcription
• process to go from RNA to protein

  translation
• nucleotides composed of:

  1. 5 carbon sugar ((deoxy)ribose)
  2. phosphate
  3. base (nitrogen containing)
• name the nucleobases

  1. cytosine
  2. thymine
  3. adenine
  4. guanine
  5. uracil
• name the 2 types of sugars in a nucleotide

  ribose and deoxyribose
• types of nucleobases

  purines and pyrimidines
• adenine and guanine are purines becuase they have a double ring with carbon and nitrogen
• cytosine, thymine and uracil are pyrimidines because they have a single ring with carbon and nitrogen
• long chains of nucleotides are called polynucleotides
• uracil is found in RNA only
• thymine is found in DNA only
• read in 5 prime to 3 prime direction
• phosphodiester link is when

  hydroxyl on the 3 prime of one carbon sugar bonds to 5 prime of another
• phosphodiester linked sugars form the backbone of DNA and RNA
• watson and crick discovered the structure of DNA in 1953
• cross pattern of the x-ray diffraction from the DNA fibre was recognised as being helical (its secondary structure)
• 10 residues per turn of DNA helix
• repeat distance was 3.4nm, so helical rise was 0.34nm
• double helix has a constant diameter
• strands run in opposite directions meaning the 2 strands are complementary
• nucleoside is a nucleotide with a pentose sugar and a nitrogenous base
• phosphodiester bond is between

  1. phosphate
  2. sugar
• pyrophosphate contains 2 phosphate atoms
• what is the central dogma of molecular biology

  an explanation of the flow of genetic information within a biological system (DNA makes RNA and RNA makes proteins)
• monomer unit of DNA is called

  nucleotide
• a nucleoside triphosphate=nucleotide
• what is the charge of a pyrophosphate molecule

  4-
• transcription of DNA is defined as the process of copying the genetic information in DNA into a complementary sequence of nucleotides
• translation of RNA is defined as the process of converting the information from a DNA template into a sequence of amino acids
• sugar in RNA is ribose
• sugar in DNA is deoxyribose
• RNA is usually single stranded
• DNA is double stranded
• RNA is involved in protein synthesis
• DNA is responsible for storing and transmitting genetic information
• adenine pairs with thymine (or uracil)
• guanine pairs with cytosine
• bases form hydrogen bonds between each other (AT has 2) and (CG has 3)
• directionality of nucleic acids

  5' to 3'