Nucleic Acids

What is the structure of a nucleic acid?

3 phosphate groups, pentose sugar and a nitrogenous base

DNA structure?

Has deoxyribose as the sugar

contains 4 bases: pyrimidines are cytosine/thymine and purine are guanine/adenine

consists of deoxynucleotide triphosphate

linked via a phosphodiester bond forming a sugar-phosphate backbone

5 prime and 3 prime ends

What is Chargaffs rule?

1:1 ratio of purine molecules to pyrimidines

How do bases pair up?

Watson and crick bonding where AT and CG

CG has 3 hydrogen bonds where AT has 2

allows for formation of double helix which has antiparallel strands

What is RNA structure?

Ribose sugar

Uracil replaces thymine

single stranded

What are the types of RNA?

mRNA codes for proteins

tRNA brings amino acids to ribosome

rRNA structural RNA in ribosome

snRNA mRNA splicing in nucleus