BSCI170 Lecture Notes - Cell Nucleus, Pentose, Nitrogenous Base
Document Summary
Nucleic acids: linear, unbranched chains of covalently bonded nucleotide monomers, function primarily in storage and transmission of genetic information, a few have catalytic or structural roles, two types, ribonucleic acid (rna, deoxyribonucleic acid (dna) Structure of nucleic acids: monomer is the nucleotide, nitrogenous base, 5c sugar (pentose, 1, 2, or 3 phosphate groups, nucleoside = base + sugar. Nitrogenous bases: purines: adenine and guanine, fused 6-sided and 5-sided rings, found in both rna and dna, pyrimidines: cytosine, thymine, and uracil, 6-sided rings, cytosine: dna and rna, thymine: dna only, uracil: rna only. Pentose sugar: two types: ribose, deoxyribose: same as ribose but lacking oxygen on 2" carbon. The phosphodiester bond: nucleotides are joined through a phosphodiester bond. Nucleic acid polymer: asymmetric molecule, because of the way monomers are attached, there is a 3" end and 5" end, 3" end oh, 5" end phosphate group, rna is usually single stranded, dna is usually double stranded.
