The Pioneers
He discovered that the percentage of Adenine always equals Thymine and Guanine always equals Cytosine.
Who is Erwin Chargaff?
This is the monomer or "building block" of DNA, consisting of a sugar, a phosphate, and a base.
What is a nucleotide?
This enzyme is responsible for "unzipping" the DNA double helix by breaking hydrogen bonds.
What is helicase?
As a cell grows, this internal measurement increases much faster than the surface area of the membrane.
What is volume?
This is a specific segment of DNA that codes for a specific protein or trait
What is a gene?
This scientist used X-ray diffraction to take "Photo 51," proving DNA has a helical shape.
Who is Rosalind Franklin? (Maurice Wilkins also contributed).
These two molecules make up the "backbone" or sides of the DNA ladder.
What are deoxyribose sugar and phosphate?
This enzyme adds new nucleotides to the template strand and proofreads the sequence for errors.
What is DNA polymerase?
This phase of the cell cycle is where DNA replication actually occurs.
What is S-phase (Synthesis)?
This term describes a cancerous tumor that is invasive and can spread to other parts of the body.
What is malignant?
These two scientists are credited with building the first accurate 3D double-helix model of DNA.
Who are Watson and Crick?
This type of weak bond holds the nitrogen bases together in the center of the molecule.
What are hydrogen bonds?
This "gluer" enzyme seals the gaps in the sugar-phosphate backbone during replication.
What is ligase?
During this phase of mitosis, sister chromatids are pulled apart to opposite ends of the cell.
What is anaphase?
Cancer is essentially a disease of this process, where "stop" signals are ignored.
What is uncontrolled cell division (or the cell cycle)?
Their experiment using nitrogen isotopes proved that DNA replication is semi-conservative.
Who are Meselson and Stahl?
These nitrogen bases (A and G) have a two-ring structure, while these (C and T) have only one.
What are purines and pyrimidines?
Replication is called this because each new molecule has one original strand and one new strand.
What is semi-conservative?
While animal cells use a cleavage furrow to split, plant cells must form this structure during cytokinesis.
What is a cell plate?
These unspecialized cells have the potential to become many different types of tissue.
What are stem cells?
This term describes how the same four nitrogen bases are used by nearly every living organism on Earth.
What is Universal?
This specific feature of the DNA molecule determines the actual genetic code or "instructions."
What is the sequence (order) of nitrogen bases?
This is the complementary sequence for ATT GCC ATG.
What is TAA CGG TAC?
This is the name for the two identical halves of a replicated chromosome.
What are sister chromatids?
This is the process where a cell changes from a generic stem cell into a specialized cell like a neuron.
What is differentiation?