Genetic Material and the Central Dogma

Vocabulary practice cards covering the organization of genetic material, the cell cycle, DNA molecular structure, and the Central Dogma of biology.

Genome

All of the DNA present within a cell.

Chromosome

A packaged structure containing DNA molecules and proteins that carries several hundred to a few thousand genes.

Gene

A unit of hereditary information consisting of a specific DNA sequence.

Interphase

The cell growth period of the cell cycle comprising the G1, S, and G2 phases.

G1 phase

The first growth phase of interphase where the cell doubles in size.

S phase

The synthesis phase of interphase during which the cell replicates its DNA and doubles its genetic information.

G2 phase

The final growth phase of interphase where division structures assemble and chromosomes begin to condense.

Mitosis

The nuclear division step of the mitotic phase involving the separation of duplicated chromosomes.

Cytokinesis

The division of the cytoplasm that separates daughter cells following mitosis.

Sister chromatids

Two identical joined copies of an original duplicated chromosome held together along their lengths by cohesins.

Centromere

The narrow waist of a duplicated chromosome where the two sister chromatids are most closely attached.

Meiosis

A variation of cell division that produces non-identical daughter cells (gametes) containing half as many chromosomes as the parent cell.

Nucleotide

The monomer building block of DNA consisting of a nitrogenous base, a deoxyribose sugar, and a phosphate group.

Antiparallel

The structural arrangement of DNA's two sugar-phosphate backbones running in opposite directions, $5'$ to $3'$ and $3'$ to $5'$.

X-ray crystallography

A structural technique used by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins that produced the diffraction image revealing the double-helix shape of DNA.

Hydrogen bond

An attractive interaction between a partially positive hydrogen atom and a more electronegative atom in the same or different molecule.

Complementary base pairing

The specific hydrogen bonding rules in DNA where adenine (A) pairs only with thymine (T), and guanine (G) pairs only with cytosine (C).

Central Dogma

The foundational biological theory stating that genetic information flows unidirectionally from DNA to RNA to protein.

Transcription

The process within the Central Dogma where a DNA sequence is copied into an RNA strand.

Translation

The process within the Central Dogma where an RNA sequence is read to produce a protein.