Nucleic Acids - B7 Flashcards

1
Q

How many chromosomes do humans have?

A

46 - 23 pairs

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2
Q

Why is DNA a polynucleotide?

A

It is made up of lots of nucleotides

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3
Q

What molecules make up a nucleotide?

A

Phosphate, deoxyribose sugar, a nitrogenous base

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4
Q

What type of sugar is a deoxyribose sugar?

A

A pentose sugar

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5
Q

What is the bond between the phosphate molecule and the deoxyribose sugar and how is it formed?

A

A phosphodiester bond, formed by condensation

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6
Q

What is the bond between a deoxyribose sugar and the nitrogenous base and how is it formed?

A

A glycosidic bond, formed by condensation

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7
Q

What are the four types of nitrogenous base in DNA? What are the pairs?

A

Adenine - Thymine
Cytosine - Guanine

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8
Q

What makes the base pairs complimentary?

A

They have a specific no. of bonds.

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9
Q

What type of bond is between the base pairs?

A

Hydrogen bonds
They are weak alone, but when there are lots together, they are strong.

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10
Q

How many Hydrogen bonds are between each of the base pairs?

A

A+T -> 2 bonds
C+G -> 3 bonds

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11
Q

What does it mean if DNA is anti-parrallel?

A

one strand goes up and one strand goes down

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12
Q

Why is DNA important?

A

It contains information of how to make polypeptide proteins. These proteins then regulate cell metabolism and behaviour

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13
Q

What is the name for 3 bases placed together?

A

A codon - 1 amino acid

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14
Q

What is a genome?

A

All of the genes in an organism

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15
Q

Why is the genetic code known as universal?

A

The same 3 bases code for the same amino acids in every living thing.

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16
Q

What determines an organisms characteristics?

A

The sequence of bases and quantity of DNA that determines the organisms characteristics.

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17
Q

What are the different structural components in a DNA molecule?

A

-sugar-phosphate backbone
-long-large molecule
-(double)helix/ coiled
-double stranded
-weak hydrogen bonds in small no.s
-base sequence

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18
Q

What is the function of the DNA structure phosophate-sugar backbone?

A

strength - protects bases

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19
Q

What is the function of DNA being a large/long molecule?

A

stores more genetic information

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20
Q

What is the function of the DNA structure being coiled/a double helix?

A

it is compact

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21
Q

What is the function of DNA being double stranded?

A

there is 1 template strand
-used in DNA replication and transcription
-if damaged or things go wrong, there is a back up

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22
Q

What is the function of DNA having weak hydrogen bonds in small no.s?

A

the bonds can be broken easily for DNA replication

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23
Q

What is the function of base sequences in DNA?

A

it is the genetic information - proteins from transcription

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24
Q

What is Chargaff’s Rule?

A

There will be:
-equal amounts if adenine and thymine
-equal amounts of cytosine and guanine
If we know the no. of adenine on one strand, we know the no. of thymine on the other strand.

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25
Q

What is a purine and what does it pair with?

A

A purine(with 2 rings) always pairs with a pyrimidine(1 ring)

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26
Q

Which bases are purines?

A

adenine and guanine

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27
Q

Which bases are pyrimidines?

A

cytosine and thymine

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28
Q

What is a proteome?

A

The particular range of proteins that a cell makes

29
Q

What are the 3 types of RNA?

A

-Messenger RNA (mRNA)
-Transfer RNA (tRNA)
-Ribosomal RNA (rRNA)

30
Q

What are the differences between DNA and RNA?

A

-RNA is single stranded(no base pairs)
-RNA has uracil instead of thymine
-RNA=ribose sugar, DNA=deoxyribose sugar
-RNA is shorter

31
Q

Is mRNA single stranded?

A

yes

32
Q

Why is mRNA shorter than DNA?

A

it is a copy of a single gene

33
Q

What are the sequences of bases on mRNA complementary to?

A

The sequence of bases it’s copying

34
Q

What are the differences between tRNA and mRNA?

A

-they’re both single stranded(similarity)
-different shapes: mRNA is linear, tRNA is a clover-leaf shape
-tRNA is much shorter (around 70 bases, when it is usually 100s for RNA)
-tRNA has hydrogen bonds between bases
-tRNA has complementary base pairs

35
Q

What are two structural features of tRNA?

A

-The anticodon(the codon is very specific and only has three specific bases)
-The amino acid attachment site(there is a specific amino acid which tRNA carries)

36
Q

Which pentose sugar is in:
a)DNA
b)mRNA
c)tRNA

A

a)deoxyribose
b)ribose
c)ribose

37
Q

What purine bases are in:
a)DNA
b)mRNA
c)tRNA

A

adenine and guanine for all

38
Q

What pyrimidine bases are in:
a)DNA
b)mRNA
c)tRNA

A

a)cytosine and thymine
b)cytosine and uracil
c)cytosine and uracil

39
Q

How many polynucleotide strands are in:
a)DNA
b)mRNA
c)tRNA

A

a)2
b)1
b)1

40
Q

Is hydrogen bonding absent or present in:
a)DNA
b)mRNA
c)tRNA

A

a)present- holds 2 anti-parallel strands together -> A-T G-C
b)absent
c)present - H bonds form a clover-leaf shape

41
Q

What is the number of nucleotides in these chains:
a)DNA
b)mRNA
c)tRNA

A

a)many millions
b)severel 100s-1000s
c)about 75

42
Q

What are ribosomes the site of?

A

Ribosomes are the site of proteinsynthesis and is also where translation happens

43
Q

What are the two structures that ribosomes are made from?

A

rRNA and proteins

44
Q

What are the two subunits which ribosomes are made from?

A

There is a large and small subunits where rRNA is found

45
Q

What does the small subunit of a ribosome do?

A

The small subunit reads code on mRNA

46
Q

What does the large subunit of a ribosome molecule do?

A

The large subunit adds amino acid ->contains enzymes for polypeptide reactions

47
Q

What does rRNA help to do?

A

rRNA helps to read the genetic code

48
Q

Why do chloroplasts and mitochondria have circular DNA?

A

Chloroplasts and mitochondria used to be their own organisms(prokaryotes) s now have circular DNA of their own. This DNA is shorter with fewer genes, but still present.

49
Q

What is the difference between normal DNA and the DNA found in chloroplasts and mitochondria?

A

-circular, not linear
-shorter than DNA…
-…so has less genes
-introns absent(bacteria don’t have this, and they used to be prokaryotes)
-no histones

These are also features found in prokaryotes ->chloroplasts used to be prokaryotes

50
Q

What does ATP have a similar structure to?

A

ATP has a similar structure to RNA - has two more phosphate groups.

51
Q

What does ATP consist of?

A

ATP is a molecule of ribosome and adenine(together known as adenosine) and three phosphate groups

52
Q

What reaction is used to go from ATP to ADP?

A

hydrolysis
-releases energy
-uses the enzyme ATP hydrolase
-add water -> to hydrolyse and break the bond
-one phosphate is released ->energy

53
Q

What reaction is used to go from ADP to ATP?

A

condensation
-energy used
-uses enzyme ATP synthase
-H20 released
-requires some energy, but less than what was released

54
Q

What is phosphorylation?

A

The phosphate group is often transferred to other molecules to lower their activation energy and make them more reactive

55
Q

What is a chromosome?

A

tightly wound DNA

56
Q

What do the DNA strands wrap around in a chromosome?

A

DNA strands wrap around histones(which are proteins present in all except mitochondria and chloroplasts) and are tightly wound to a long coil

57
Q

What is DNA in chromosomes held in place by?

A

DNA in chromosomes is held in place by proteins

58
Q

What are DNA + histones known as?

A

chromatin fibre

59
Q

What are homolagous pairs?

A

There is one gene from each parent in each chromosome pair
-equivalent genes from mother and father
-carry the same genes in the same positions
-they’re the same shape

60
Q

What is a karyotype?

A

all a person’s chromosomes on display(the diploid no. of chromosomes)

61
Q

What is the locus?

A

The location of a gene is known as the locus(loci -plural)
-the same for everyone

62
Q

What is the centromere?

A

protein found in the middle of a chromosome

63
Q

What determines the order of amino acids?

A

the base sequence on the gene

64
Q

What is the definition of a gene?

A

a gene is a section of DNA that codes for a particular polypeptide/protein and codes for functional RNA

65
Q

What are introns?

A

non-coding DNA found in genes(only in genes)

66
Q

What are exons?

A

DNA which codes for proteins

67
Q

True or false: prokaryotic DNA contains introns

A

false - prokaryotic DNA doesn’t contain introns

68
Q

What are non-coding repeats?

A

non-coding DNA BETWEEN genes
-each region contains a sequence of bases, repeated a no. of times
-no. of repeats varies from person to person
-these are used in genetic fingerprinting

69
Q

What is an allele?

A

different forms of the same gene