Nucleic Acids in Strand Form (nucleotides)

What are nucleic acids?

the genetic material of the cell

What are nucleic acids composed of?

nucleotides

What is each nucleotide composed of?

a pentose sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base

What attaches to the 5-carbon pentose sugar?

the phosphate group and the nitrogenous base

What does the nitrogenous base attach to?

the 1' - carbon atom (right point)

What does the phosphate group attach to?

the 5' - carbon atom (left point)

What are nucleotide monomers linked together into?

a single strand

What does this form between the two nucleotides?

a covalent phophodiester bond

What do successive condensation reactions result in?

the formation of long polynucleotide strands

What does the order of the bases in the nucleotide sequence form?

the basis for the genetic instructions

Adenine bonds with…

thymine/uracil

What are these base pairings?

the genetic code of the nucleic acid

What does the genetic code allow for?

the genetic information to be replicated

What does one strand act as?

the template for the synthesis of a new strand

What does the genetic code allow for?

express the genetic instructions within the cell

How are the nucleotide monomers linked together?

by condensaton reactions

What does the phosphate group of one nucleotide attach to?

the sugar of a another nucleotide

What forms the backbone?

the sugar and the phosphate

What are the four nitrogenous bases that make up nucleic acids?

guanine, cytosine, adenine, thymine/uracil

What are guanine and adenine?

double-ringed purine bases

What are cytosine and thymine/uracil?

single-ringed pyrimide bases

What do different instructions have?

different base sequences

How do the nitrogenous bases pair up?

via hydrogen bonds

What does the pairing up of these nitrogenous bases create?

a complementary sequences

Guanine

cytosine