DNA Structure
This is the four-letter alphabet that nature uses to write the instructions for life.
What are A, T, G, and C (adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine)?
The full name of the molecule, DNA.
What is Deoxyribonucleic Acid?
Known as the father of genetics, he called the material that passes traits from generation to generation "element".
Who is Gregor Mendel?
The complete set of genes or genetic material in a cell or organism.
What is a genome?
This is the primary physical shape of a double-stranded DNA molecule.
What is the double helix?
The sugar molecule found in RNA, but not in DNA.
What is ribose?
This scientist's X-ray diffraction photographs provided critical data for determining the structure of DNA.
Who is Rosalind Franklin?
Segments of DNA that code for a protein or functional RNA.
What are genes?
This molecule is the monomer of nucleic acid and is composed of a sugar, a phosphate, and a nitrogenous base.
What is a nucleotide?
RNA is this in structure, while DNA has two strands.
What is single-stranded?
James Watson and Francis Crick, who determined the double helix structure of DNA, published their findings in this year.
What is 1953?
The process where RNA polymerase unzips a section of DNA to form a complementary strand of RNA.
What is transcription?
The two chemical bases, Adenine and Guanine, are categorized into this group.
What are purines?
This nitrogenous base is found in RNA but replaces Thymine in DNA.
What is Uracil (U)?
He observed that the molar concentrations of A always equal T, and G always equal C, which are now known as his rules of base pairing.
Who is Erwin Chargaff?
The replication model proven by Meselson and Stahl, where each new DNA molecule consists of one old strand and one new strand.
What is semiconservative replication?
These weak bonds connect a nitrogenous base to its complementary base across the two strands of DNA.
What are hydrogen bonds?
RNA copies the genetic information in DNA and carries this code to a ribosome for protein synthesis; this is its primary function.
What is protein synthesis?
In 1944, Avery, McCarty, and MacLeod proved that this molecule, and not protein, was the "transforming principle" carrying genetic information.
What is DNA?
The small, discontinuously created fragments of the lagging strand during DNA replication.
What are Okazaki fragments?