Nitrogen Metabolism and Nucleic Acids

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts from the lectures on nitrogen metabolism and nucleic acids, including important pathways, enzymes, and definitions.

Nitrogen Cycle

The process by which nitrogen is converted between its various chemical forms, including fixation and assimilation by plants.

Haber-Bosch Process

An industrial method for synthesizing ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen, crucial for fertilizer production.

Nitrogenase

An enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen (N2) into ammonia (NH3).

Urea Cycle

A metabolic pathway that processes nitrogen waste by converting ammonia into urea for excretion.

Essential Amino Acids

Amino acids that cannot be synthesized by the body and must be obtained from the diet.

Pyrimidine

A class of nucleotides that includes cytosine, thymine, and uracil.

Purine

A class of nucleotides that includes adenine and guanine.

Watson-Crick Base Pairing

The specific hydrogen bonding between nucleotides in DNA: adenine pairs with thymine, and cytosine pairs with guanine.

Lac Operon

A set of genes and their regulatory sequences involved in the metabolism of lactose in bacteria.

De novo Pathway

A process for synthesizing nucleotides from scratch, providing a way to create the building blocks of DNA and RNA.

Salvage Pathway

A process where nucleotides are recycled from nucleic acids, allowing for the reuse of resources.

Folate

A B vitamin that is crucial for nucleotide biosynthesis; acts as a cofactor in the synthesis of purines and pyrimidines.

Inosinate

A nucleotide that serves as a precursor for the synthesis of adenine (AMP) and guanine (GMP) nucleotides.

Carbamoyl Phosphate Synthetase II

An enzyme that catalyzes the first step of pyrimidine biosynthesis, producing carbamoyl phosphate from bicarbonate and ammonia.

Ribosome

A molecular machine that synthesizes proteins by translating RNA sequences into amino acid chains.

PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction)

A technique used to amplify specific DNA sequences, allowing for the generation of thousands of copies of a DNA segment.