DNA as Hereditary Material and its Structure

These flashcards cover key concepts and discoveries related to the structure and function of DNA as hereditary material.

What significant discovery about DNA occurred in 1953?

DNA was identified as the hereditary material.

Who discovered nucleic acids in 1869?

Fredrich Miescher.

What are the basic building blocks of nucleic acids?

Nucleotides, which consist of a pentose sugar, phosphate group, and a nitrogenous base.

What was Griffith's experiment in 1928 about?

It established that a physical material causes heredity by demonstrating how non-pathogenic bacteria could be transformed into pathogenic forms.

What is Chargaff's rule?

In DNA, the percent composition of adenine is the same as thymine, and the percent composition of cytosine is the same as guanine.

How did Hershey and Chase demonstrate that DNA is the hereditary material?

By using radioactive isotopes to show that only DNA, and not protein, entered bacteria and transformed them.

What model of DNA did Watson and Crick propose?

The double helix model.

What hypothesis did Watson and Crick's work confirm?

The semiconservative model of DNA replication.

What role does mRNA play in genetic expression?

mRNA is synthesized from DNA and carries the code to synthesize proteins.

What does the triplet hypothesis propose?

The genetic code consists of combinations of three nucleotides, or codons, each coding for an amino acid.