DNA Flashcards
(32 cards)
nucleic acids
- genetic material stored here
- passed from generation to generation via DNA and in some cases RNA (viruses)
circular chromosomes
prokaryotes
linear chromosomes
eukaryotes
plasmids
prokaryotes and sometimes eukaryotes
monomer of dna
nucleotide
polymer of dna
nucleic acid
exons
areas that code for genes
introns
areas that don’t code for genes (junk)
base pair rules
A binds to T with 2 H bonds
G binds to C with 3 H bonds
shape of dna
double helix
purines
- 2 carbon rings
- guanine and adenine
pyrimidines
- 1 carbon ring
- thymine, cytosine, uracil
covalent bonds
between the phosphates and deoxyribose and nitrogenous bases
speed of dna replication
- extremely rapid
- in prokaryotes, up to 500 nucleotides added a second
accuracy of dna replication
- very accurate
- only about 1 in a billion nucleotides is incorrectly paired
origins of replication
- dna replication begins here
- have a specific sequence of nucleotides
helicases
unwind the parental double helix and initiate replication
replication fork
the shape formed as helicase unwinds dna
replication bubble
zones where replication are occurring that you can see
single strand binding proteins
keep the separated strands apart and stabilize the unwound dna
topoisomerase
prevents the areas above the forks from kinking
primase
lays down primer (complementary to dna and about 10 nucleotides long) to start the addition of of new nucleotides
dna polymerase
- catalyze synthesis of a new dna strand according to base pairing rules
- new nucleotides align themselves along the templates of the old dna strand and dna polymerase links the nucleotide to the growing strand
direction of replication
grow in the 5’ to 3’ direction since new nucleotides are only added to the 3’ end of the the growing strand