DNA Structure and Replication

DNA

An organic compound containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes.

DNA stands for....

deoxyribonucleic acid

DNA found in....

nucleus

nucleotide

monomer of nucleic acids

parts of a nucleotide

5 carbon sugar, phosphate group, nitrogenous base

deoxyribose

A five-carbon sugar that is a component of DNA nucleotides

Watson and Crick

Developed the double helix model of DNA

purines

Bases with a double-ring structure.

Adenine and Guanine

pyrimidine

bases that has a single-ring structure; thymine and cytosine

semiconservative replication

Method of DNA replication in which parental strands separate, act as templates, and produce molecules of DNA with one parental DNA strand and one new DNA strand

base pairs in DNA

A-T

G-C

antiparallel

subunits of DNA run in opposite directions

DNA helicase

An enzyme that unwinds and separate the DNA double helix during DNA replication

DNA polymerase

Enzyme involved in DNA replication that joins individual nucleotides to produce a DNA molecule

Okazaki fragments

Small fragments of DNA produced on the lagging strand during DNA replication

leading strand

The new continuous complementary DNA strand synthesized along the template strand in the mandatory 5' to 3' direction.

lagging strand

The strand that is synthesized in fragments using individual sections called Okazaki fragments

DNA ligase

enzyme that chemically links DNA fragments together

topoisomerase

corrects "overwinding" ahead of replication forks by breaking, swiveling, and rejoining DNA strands

DNA primase

synthesis of RNA primer

RNA primer

short piece of RNA needed for DNA polymerase to start; acts as a marker for where to begin replicating DNA

single stranded binding proteins

keep the strands of DNA separate during replication

ATA CGG AGT

TAT GCC TCA