DNA Structure & Replication - Vocabulary Flashcards

These flashcards cover key vocabulary terms related to DNA structure and replication as outlined in the lecture notes.

Genetic Material

Molecules that carry and transmit genetic information, primarily DNA and RNA.

Transformation

A change in genotype and phenotype due to the assimilation of foreign DNA by a cell.

Avery-McCarty-Macleod Experiment

An experiment that identified DNA as the transforming principle in Griffith’s work, supporting that DNA is the genetic material.

Bacteriophage

A type of virus that infects bacteria, used in experiments to investigate DNA as genetic material.

Semi-conservative replication

A model of DNA replication where each daughter molecule contains one old strand and one newly synthesized strand.

Dispersive model

An outdated model of DNA replication suggesting that parental and daughter DNA are interspersed in both strands.

Leading strand

The DNA strand that is synthesized continuously during DNA replication, moving towards the replication fork.

Lagging strand

The DNA strand that is synthesized discontinuously in short segments called Okazaki fragments, moving away from the replication fork.

Okazaki fragments

Short DNA strands synthesized on the lagging strand during DNA replication.

DNA Polymerase

Enzymes that catalyze the addition of nucleotides to a growing DNA strand during replication.

Antiparallel

The orientation of the two strands of DNA, where one strand runs 5' to 3' and the other runs 3' to 5'.

rRNA

Ribosomal RNA that combines with proteins to form ribosomes, the site of protein synthesis.

mRNA

Messenger RNA that carries genetic information from the DNA to the ribosomes for protein synthesis.

tRNA

Transfer RNA that brings amino acids to the ribosomes during protein synthesis.

Nitrogenous bases

The building blocks of DNA and RNA; include adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine (and uracil in RNA).

Chargaff's Rule

The observation that, in DNA, the amount of adenine equals thymine and the amount of cytosine equals guanine.

Polynucleotide

A polymer consisting of many nucleotide monomers linked together in a chain.