PLTW Biomed Unit 1.1.5 and 1.1.6

What is DNA

deoxyribonucleic acid, a negatively charged molecule found in all living things

what are some examples of things that have DNA

animals, plants, protists, bacteria, fungi, and some viruses (even though all viruses are non-living)

DNA's chemical code provides what

instructions for building proteins

what is a protein

a 3 dimensional polymer made of amino acid monomers, who's form and function is determined by the cells nucleic acid sequence

large molecules like DNA are

essential for life

DNA...

lays the foundation for how an organism grows, what they look like, what diseases they have, etc.

most DNA is...

inherited, meaning passed down from other family members

what are the 4 building blocks of DNA or nucleotides

1) adenine(A) 2) thymine(T) 3) guanine(G) 4) cytosine(C)

how are nucleotides made

they are a combination of a phosphate group, a sugar, and one of 4 nitrogenous bases (adenine, thymine, guanine, or cytosine)

the nucleotides link together in a series, forming a

helix, which is 2 strands of DNA swirling around each other to make a spiral shape

what are the pairs that link together to form a helix

A and T link together, and C and G link together

the structure of DNA was not known until

1953

what were the first people to discover DNA

James Watson and Frances Crick

who was REALLY the first person to discover DNA

Rosalind Franklin

what 2 bases are classified as purines

adenine and cytosine

what 2 bases are considered pyrimidines

thymine and guanine

what are genes

Genes are sections of DNA that control a single genetic trait.

what is your genome

a complete set of genes in one organism

what are some things genes control

hair color, eye color, a specific hormone or enzyme

DNA is found

inside living cells

cells are classified by whether or not they have

organelles

what is an organelle

Tiny structures that perform a function in a cell (like an organ)

what is the difference between eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells

eukaryotic cells are found inside organisms that have membrane-bound cells with nuclei, like humans/animals, plants, and fungi, vs prokaryotic cells which are things who's cells do not have a nucleus, like bacteria

inside the nucleus of a eukaryotic cell, DNA is usually

loose, but sometimes it forms tight coils called chromosomes

a healthy human has -- chromosomes, 23 from the mom and 23 from the dad

46

what are histones

small proteins that DNA strands wrap around in order to form a chromosome

what are some examples of where you can find DNA evidence

inside a shirt (skin cells), fingerprints, hair, bone marrow, red blood cells, bodily fluids

polyemerase chain reaction

A laboratory technique for amplifying DNA in-vitro. Uses a thermocycler, primers, DNA polymerase, and nucleotides.

what does a polyemerase chain reaction do

enables scientists to produce millions of copies of a specific DNA sequence from a small amount of DNA.

PCR is short for

polyemerase chain reaction

What are restiction enzymes aka restriction endonucleases

A degradative enzyme that recognizes specific nucleotide sequences and cuts DNA at these sequences called restriction sites

what are recognition sites

a sequence of DNA where a restriction enzyme cuts

what is gel electrophoresis

a laboratory method used to separate mixtures of DNA, RNA, or proteins according to molecular size using a positive charge to pull the negatively charged molecules towards the positively charged molecules, effectively separating the DNA.

What are RFLPs

Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP)