DNA Structure and Replication

These flashcards summarize key terms and concepts related to DNA structure and replication for review.

Transformation Experiment

An experiment by Griffith demonstrating that living R cells can be transformed into S cells by heat-killed S cells.

Hershey-Chase Experiment

An experiment using T2 bacteriophage to confirm that DNA is the genetic material, marked by radioactive phosphorus.

Chargaff's Rules

The observation that DNA base composition varies between species and follows the ratio A=T and G=C.

Rosalind Franklin

A scientist known for her work on X-ray diffraction images of DNA, which helped reveal its double helix structure.

Semiconservative Replication

The mechanism of DNA replication where each daughter molecule consists of one parental strand and one newly synthesized strand.

Okazaki Fragments

Short sequences of DNA synthesized on the lagging strand during DNA replication.

DNA polymerase

An enzyme that synthesizes DNA by adding nucleotides, also plays a role in proofreading and correcting errors.

Topoisomerase

An enzyme that alleviates the torsional strain ahead of the replication fork during DNA replication.

Telomere

The repetitive DNA sequence at the ends of linear chromosomes, which protects them from degradation.

Mutation

A change in the DNA sequence that can affect protein structure and function.

Nuclease

An enzyme that cuts DNA strands, often involved in DNA repair processes.