cellmol: NUCLEIC ACIDS

Nucleic acids

are the third class of biopolymers (polysaccharides and proteins being the others)

deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), ribonucleic acid (RNA)

what are the Two major classes of nucleic acids

deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

carrier of genetic information

ribonucleic acid (RNA)

an intermediate in the expression of genetic information and other diverse roles

Francis Crick

who proposed the central dogma

genome

In the Central Dogma model, what term refers to the complete set of DNA in an organism?

mRNA

What molecule represents the transcriptome in the flow of genetic information?

proteome

What term describes the total set of proteins expressed in the Central Dogma framework?

nucleotides

What are the monomeric building blocks of nucleic acids?

ribose

Which specific sugar component is found in RNA nucleotides?

2-deoxyribose

Which specific sugar component is found in DNA nucleotides?

Sugar (ribose or 2-deoxyribose), heterocyclic base, and phosphate

What are the three structural subunits that compose a single nucleotide?

phosphodiester

The chemical linkage between monomer units in nucleic acids is a __

nucleoside

sugar+base

nucleotide

sugar+base+phosphate

Pyrimidines and Purines

The heterocyclic base

adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, uracil

what are the five common bases for nucleic acids

Nucleosides

N-Glycosides of a purine or pyrimidine heterocyclic base and a carbohydrate. The C-N bond involves the anomeric carbon of the carbohydrate

D-ribose and 2-deoxy-D-ribose

The carbohydrates for nucleic acids are ?

Nucleosides

carbohydrate + base

Nucleotides

Phosphoric acid esters of nucleosides

Nucleotides

nucleoside + phosphate

Kinase

enzymes that catalyze the phosphoryl transfer reaction from ATP to an acceptor substrate. M2+ dependent

phosphodiester

The chemical linkage between nucleotide units in nucleic acids is a __, which connects the 5’-hydroxyl group of one nucleotide to the 3’-hydroxyl group of the next nucleotide

5’-3’

By convention, nucleic acid sequences are written from left to right, from the__ -end to the __-end.

Nucleic acids

__are negatively charged

negatively

Nucleic acids are __charged

1944

in __, Avery, MacLeod & McCarty provided Strong evidence that DNA is genetic material

Avery, MacLeod & McCarty

in 1944, who provided Strong evidence that DNA is genetic material

DNA

in 1944, Avery, MacLeod & McCarty provided Strong evidence that __is genetic material

1950

in __: Chargaff provided a careful analysis of DNA from a wide variety of organisms.

Chargaff

in 1950: ___provided a careful analysis of DNA from a wide variety of organisms.

Chargaff’ Rule

Content of A,T, C & G varied widely according to the organism, however: A=T and C=G, according to what rule

A=T and C=G

what is the Chargaff’ Rule

1953

in __, Watson & Crick provided the structure of DNA and in 1962 they won the Nobel Prize with M. Wilkens

Watson & Crick

in 1953, who provided the structure of DNA and in 1962 they won the Nobel Prize with M. Wilkens

DNA

in 1953, Watson & Crick provided the structure of __and in 1962 they won the Nobel Prize with Maurice Wilkins

1962

in 1953, Watson & Crick provided the structure of DNA and in __they won the Nobel Prize with Maurice Wilkins

Nobel Prize

in 1953, Watson & Crick provided the structure of DNA and in 1962 they won the __ with Maurice Wilkins

Maurice Wilkins

in 1953, Watson & Crick provided the structure of DNA and in 1962 they won the Nobel Prize with __

2 meters

Approximately how long is the DNA contained within a single cell?

supercoiling

By what mechanism is DNA "packaged" inside a cell to fit within the nucleus?

histones

What are the core proteins around which DNA coils called?

nucleosome

What is the complex or assembly formed by DNA coiled around a histone core called?

Lysine and arginine

Which two basic amino acid residues are particularly rich in histones?

histones

are rich in the basic amino acids lysine and arginine

Replication

What process duplicates DNA to yield another copy of DNA?

Transcription

What process converts DNA into mRNA (transcriptome)?

Translation

What process synthesizes protein (proteome) using information from mRNA?

Replication

process by which DNA is copied with very high fidelity.

Transcription

process by which the DNA genetic code is read and transferred to messenger RNA (mRNA)

Transcription

This is an intermediate step in protein expression

Translation

The process by which the genetic code is converted to a protein, the end product of gene expression

protein

the end product of gene expression

DNA sequence

The ___ codes for the mRNA sequence, which codes for the protein sequence

mRNA sequence

The DNA sequence codes for the ___, which codes for the protein sequence

protein sequence

The DNA sequence codes for the mRNA sequence, which codes for the ___

DNA

is replicated by the coordinated efforts of a number of proteins and enzymes.

Topoisomerase

Enzyme that unknots and uncoils DNA

Helicase

Protein that unwinds the DNA double helix.

DNA polymerase

Enzyme that replicates DNA using each strand as a template for the newly synthesized strand.

DNA ligase

enzyme that catalyzes the formation of the phosphodiester bond between pieces of DNA.

semi-conservative

DNA replication is ____: Each new strand of DNA contains one parental (old, template) strand and one daughter (newly synthesized) strand

DNA Polymerase

the new strand is replicated from the 5’  3’ (start from the 3’-end of the template)

DNA ligase

catalyzes the formation of the phosphodiester bond between pieces of DNA.

leading

Replication of the __strand occurs continuously in the 5’  3’ direction of the new strand.

lagging

Replication of the ___strand occurs discontinuously.

DNA polymerase

have high intrinsic fidelity

DNA polymerase

have “proof-reading” (exonuclease) activity

RNA

usually exist as a single strand

RNA

contains ribose rather than 2-deoxyribose and uracil rather than thymine.

mRNA, rRNA, tRNA

There are three major kinds of RNA:?

DNA

__is found in the cell nucleus and mitochondria

cell nucleus and mitochondria

DNA is found in the __

RNA

is more disperse in the cell.

Transcription

only one of the DNA strands is copied (coding or antisense strand).

antisense strand

in transcription, only one of the DNA strands is copied (coding or ___).

RNA polymerase

in transcription, An __ replicates the DNA sequence into a complementary sequence of mRNA (template or sense strand).

sense strand

template or __).

Transfer RNA (tRNA)

carries an amino acid on the 3’-terminal hydroxyl (A) (aminoacyl t-RNA) and the ribosome catalyzes amide bond formation

Ribosome

large assembly of proteins and rRNAs that catalyzes protein and peptide biosynthesis using specific, complementary, anti-parallel pairing interactions between mRNA and the anti-codon loop of specific tRNA’s.