DNA

Question 1

DNA

Answer 1

Deoxyribonucleic acid which is present in nearly all living organisms as the carrier of genetic information. A double helix made up of two polynucleotide chains, running antiparallel to each other, with the sugar-phosphate backbone on the outside and organic bases bonded together by Hydrogen bonds in the centre of the helix. The nucleotides have a deoxyribose sugar and the bases adenine, thymine, guanine or cytosine.

Question 2

Nucleotide

Answer 2

Complex chemicals made up of an organic base, a sugar and a phosphate. They are the basic units of which the nucleic acids DNA and RNA are made.

Question 3

Polynucleotide

Answer 3

A polymer of monomers called nucleotides.

Question 4

Phosphodiester bond

Answer 4

The bond formed by a condensation reaction between the phosphate group of one nucleotide and the pentose sugar of another nucleotide.

Question 5

Organic Base

Answer 5

Part of a nucleotide - either adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine or uracil.

Question 6

RNA

Answer 6

A polynucleotide which contains nucleotides that have the pentose sugar ribose rather than deoxyribose and contains the bases adenine, uracil, guanine or cytosine. Can be either mRNA, tRNA or rRNA.

Question 7

Complimentary base pairing

Answer 7

Specific rules for how the bases pair together. Adenine pairs with thymine with 2 hydrogen bonds. Guanine binds with cytosine with 3 hydrogen bonds.

Question 8

Double Helix

Answer 8

Structure of DNA made up of 2 strands of nucleotides running in opposite directions.