Professional Documents
Culture Documents
of
Geneti c Inf ormat ion
(C hapter 5)
James Watson (L) and Francis Crick (R),
and the model they built of the structure
of DNA.
Nucleoside a base is bonded to a
sugar ( N1 of pyrimidine→C1’ of
sugar or N9 of purine →C1’
Nucleotide is a nucleoside joined to one or
more phosphate s by an ester bond
A Pair of Nucleic Acid
Chains with Complementary
Sequences Can Form Double
Helical Structure
Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins
discovered the existence of specific base
pairing interaction.
Supercoiling of Prokaryotic DNA
Schematic Representation of circular and supercoiled DNA
Electron micrograph of supercoiled DNA
2 Types of Supecoiling
• Negatively supercoiled a right handed helix acquires an extra
helical twist
• Positively supercolied there is overwinding of the closed double
helix
2 Enzymes which are involved in the regulation of
conversion
• Topoisomerase an enzyme that hydrolyze a phosphodiester
bond in one strand, relax the supercoiling by rotating in one
strand, then reseal the break
• DNA gyrase induce a negative supercoling in relaxed, closed
circular DNA
Supercoiling in Eukaryotic DNA
Eukaryotic DNA is complex with DNA
(chromatin)
Histones principal proteins, H1, H2A, H2B, H3
and H4
Chromatin resembles beads on a string.
Nucleosome consist of a DNA wrap around a
histone core
The Double Helix Facilitates the
Accurate Transmission of Hereditary
Information
The Double Helix Can Be
Reversibly Melted
Three kinds of RNA
2. mRNA (messenger RNA) is the template
for protein synthesis or translation
3. tRNA (transfer RNA) carries amino acid
in an activated form to the ribosome for
peptide bond formation, in a sequence
dictated by the mRNA template
4. rRNA (ribosomal RNA) the major
component of ribosome, plays both a
catalytic and structural role in protein
synthesis
Messenger RNA (mRNA)
least abundant of the three RNAs
The sequences of bases in mRNA specify the order
of amino acids in proteins
turn over most rapidly in the cell
Heteregenous in size
No intrachain folding, very likely an open chain
structure
Synthesized in the nucleus during the process of
transcription
After transcription, mRNA passes to the ribosomes
where it serves as the template for the seqeuntial
ordering of a.a. during synthesis
TRANSFER DNA
smallest of the three RNAs
Single stranded polynucleotide chain, usually about 80 nucleotides
and generally having a MW of about 25,000 daltons
INTRACHAIN Hbonding occurs in tRNA, forming AU and GC
base pairs.
Molecule folds back on itself to form a cloverleaf structure
STEMS hydrogen bonded structure, LOOPS nonhydrogen
bonded position, contain modified bases
At one end of the polynucleotide chain, all tRNA’s contain a
guanylic acid residue, linked by its 3’hydroxyl group to the
penultimate nucleotide residue.
The other side of the chain contains a common trinucleotide
sequence namely pCpCpA.
Ribosomal RNA
forms a complex with protein to form ribosome
Prokaryotic ribosome : 70 S→ 50 S and 30 S
Eukaryotic ribosome: 73S to 80S → 60S and
40S
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