Nucleic Acids

Comprehensive flashcards covering the biochemistry of nucleotides and nucleic acids, including structural components, base pairing, historical discoveries, and the properties of DNA and RNA.

Nucleic acids serve as fundamental units for information storage and __________.

information transfer

The __________ describes the process by which DNA is converted into messenger RNA to produce proteins.

central dogma

The key carbohydrate in nucleic acids is a five-carbon __________ sugar.

pentose

The building block of DNA is __________ while RNA utilizes ribose.

2 deoxyribose

To distinguish the sugar carbons from the atoms in the nucleobases, a __________ numbering system is used ($1'$ to $5'$).

prime

In the structure of DNA, phosphates occur as __________, joining the $5'$ and $3'$ sites of the sugar.

phosphodiesters

Nucleobases with a two-ring structure and a short name are called __________.

purines

The three nucleobases known as pyrimidines are cytosine, thymine, and __________.

uracil

The two purines found in nucleic acids are adenine and __________.

guanine

The adenine nucleobase is capable of accepting and giving a pair of __________.

hydrogen bonds

__________ is a nucleotide used as energy that can be unlocked for chemical processes, whereas cyclic AMP acts as a second messenger.

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)

When constructing proteins using the ribosomal system, nature uses __________ as a form of energy instead of ATP.

GTP

A __________ consists of a ribose plus a nucleobase but lacks phosphates.

nucleoside

The bond connecting the nucleobase to the ribose sugar is known as a __________ bond.

glycoside

By convention, nucleic acid sequences are written and built in the __________ to __________ direction.

$5'$; $3'$

The formation of a new phosphodiester bond during DNA polymerization is a __________ reaction.

condensation

The term "nucleic acid" originated because the polymers were found to be very __________ materials located in the nucleus.

acidic

__________ revealed that there is a one-to-one ratio of purines to pyrimidines in organisms across all domains of life.

Chargaff's data

__________ produced the electron diffraction data known as Photograph 51, which provided clues to the dimensions of the DNA double helix.

Rosalind Franklin

Linus Pauling incorrectly proposed a __________ structure for DNA, which would have failed due to massive electrostatic repulsion.

triple-stranded

Between the nucleopairs, Guanine and Cytosine form __________ hydrogen bonds, while Adenine and Thymine form only two.

$$3$$

DNA consists of __________ strands, where one runs $5'$ to $3'$ and the other runs the opposite way for optimum thermodynamic stability.

antiparallel

RNA is less stable than DNA because it possesses a hydroxyl group on the __________ position of the ribose sugar.

$$2'$$

Beyond hydrogen bonding, __________ also contribute to DNA stability through the packing of base pairs.

hydrophobic forces

Researchers use DNA as __________ to program puzzles and define functions like AND, OR, or NOT in nanoscale computing.

logic gates