Nucleic Acids and the RNA World Chapter 4

Flashcards about Nucleic Acids and the RNA world.

What is a nucleic acid?

A polymer of nucleotide monomers

What does DNA stand for?

Deoxyribonucleic acid

What does RNA stand for?

Ribonucleic acid

Name the purines

Adenine, Guanine

Name the pyrimidines

Cytosine, Uracil, Thymine

What is the primary structure of DNA?

Sequence of deoxyribonucleotides; bases are A, T, G, C

What is the primary structure of RNA?

Sequence of ribonucleotides; bases are A, U, G, C

What is the secondary structure of DNA?

Two antiparallel strands twist into a double helix, stabilized by hydrogen bonding between complementary bases (A-T, G-C) and hydrophobic interactions

What is the secondary structure of RNA?

Most common are hairpins, formed when a single strand folds back on itself to form a double-helix "stem" and an unpaired "loop"

Who discovered an RNA enzyme in Tetrahymena thermophila?

Thomas Cech