Nucleic Acids

Large molecules found in the nucleus

Two types

i
ETA

Both have roles in the storage and transfer of genetic information

and the synthesis of Polypeptides

Nucleotides
Nucleic acids are large polymers formed from many nucleotides linked in
the chain

A Nucleotide is comprised of three components

A Pentose Monosaccharide
A Phosphate group inorganic molecule that is acidic and
negativelycharged
A nitrogenous base complex organic molecule with one or two
carbon rings as well as nitrogen

They are linked together by condensation reactions to form a

polynucleotide
The phosphate group on the 5th carbon of the pentose sugar
forms a covalent bond with the hydroxyl OH group at the
third carbon of the adjacent pentose sugar
These bonds are called phosphodiester bonds
This forms a long strong backbone with a base attatched to
each sugar
Phosphodiester bonds are broken by hydrolysis thus releasing the individual
nucleotides
 Deoxyribonucleic Acid DNA
The pentose sugar is deoxyribose
The nucleotides have four different
bases divided into two groups

Pyramidines of
F

ot

f
Thymine Cytosine

A Binds with T C Binds with G

purines
u
It d

d of

St

Adenine Guanine

Purines Double Carbon Nitrogen Ring

Pyramidines Single Carbon Nitrogen Ring

A larger purine must always bind to a smaller pyramidine

Due to complimentary base pairing there will always be the same

sercentage of complimentary bases
 A DNA molecule varies from a few nucleotides to millions of
nucleotides

Watson and crich worked out that

DNA was comprised of two
very long polynucleotide chains twisted into a double Helix

Adenine Thymine

Guanine cytosine

new by hydrogen bonds

Each strand has a phosphate group
5 and a hydroxyl group 3 at the
J other
The two parallel strands are arranged so
that they run in opposite directions
antiparallel

RNA Ribonucleic Acid

RNA is different from DNA as the pentose sugar is ribose not deoxyribose
The thymine base is replaced by the base Uracil U
RNA is single stranded not double stranded like DNA

And they are shorter as only copy a certain gene on DNA strand

RNA is used to transfer specific sections of the DNA for decoding into
a protein
Messenger RNA mRNA is a short section of RNA and transfers information
out of the nucleus
Organisation of DNA

Eukaryotic Prokaryotic
DNA in the nucleus DNA is in a loop
Each large DNA molecule It is within the cytoplasm
is tightly wound around It is not wound around
histone proteins into histones and is described as
chromosomes naked
There is a loop of DNA
without histone proteins inside
mitochondria and chloroplasts Viruses contain DNA it is
also naked in the form of
a loop

DNA Replication
The function of DNA is to contain the genetic information needed
for
the development and functioning of an organism

In eukaryotes DNA is stored in long linear molecules called

Chromosomes

DNA is replicated during interphase

Meselsonn and Stahl discovered the mode of replication
They discovered that the DNA replicated semi conservatively
At each replication one old strand of the DNA is copied and a new
one formed
The sequence of the bases provides the template
complimentary base pairing ensures no mistakes are made

The mechanism of Replication

The DNA double helix is unwound

by the DNA Helicase enzyme
and unzipped H bonds between bases are broken Leaving two
separate strands
 separate free nucleotides are activated
by the addition of phosphates
they diffuse into the nucleus and Hydrogen bond complimentary base pair
to the bases on the existing DNA strands

DNA Polymerase joins up the sugar phosphate backbone forms phosphodiester

bonds

DNA strand is wound back up

key Info
DNA Polymerase can only operate in one direction 5 to 3

This works for the leading strand the DNA polymerase moves along the
strand in the same direction as the replication fork

However the other strand the lagging strand runs in the opposite
direction

The lagging strand is made in short segments called Okazaki fragments

these fragments begin with an RNA primer

They are later joined together by the enzyme DNA ligase

Meselson and Stahl

They first put forward the idea of semi conservative DNA replication in
1954

Isotopes of nitrogen used N and N These isotopes could be

separated using centrifugation because of their different mass

After one round of replication the two daughter molecules each comprise one old
5N and one new N strand
After two rounds two of the DNA molecules consist of new 4N material
while the other two contain one old and one new strand

Protein Synthesis
Protein synthesis always starts at the same codon
AUG start codon
This codes for Methionine
3 codons do not code for any amino acids
This is where protein synthesis stops
They are UGA UAG UAA

Protein synthesis consists of two stages

Transcription making mRNA from DNA in the nucleus
Translation using the mRNA template to make a polypeptide chain in the
cytoplasm
tRNA and ribosomes are also needed
The polypeptide chain can then be sent to the golgi apparatus for
modification

Transcription

The DNA is unwound at the Required gene

The hydrogen bonds between the strands are broken
Activated free nucleotides complimentary base pair to the DNA
on the SENSE strand only that runs from 5 to 3
The antisense strand does not code for protein
RNA polymerase joins up the sugar phosphate backbone
The completed RNA is released and the DNA rewinds
The RNA diffuses out of the nucleus through the nuclear pores and is
called messenger RNA mRNA

MRNA is single stranded

The enzyme RNA polymerase is used
The base Thymine is replaced by Uracil
The sugar is ribose
Translation
Translation is thesynthesis of the polypeptide chain from the mRNA template
It occurs in the cytoplasm
It also requires
Ribosomes
tRNA

tRNA
Transfers amino acids to the growing chain
th amino acids via an
I p in
enzyme

The anticodon is very important

It decides which amino acid is loaded
It binds to the codon on mRNA

The Mechanism
The ribosome binds to the mRNA
The first loaded tRNA binds to the mRNA via complementary base
pairing between the codon and anticodon

The second tRNA then binds at the second site on the mRNA

Peptidyl transferase on the ribosome catalyses peptide bond formation

between the amino acids

The ribosome moves three bases along the mRNA

The first tRNA leaves
A new loaded tRNA binds
The chain continues to grow until a stop codon
is reached
The polypeptide chain is released and can be modified in the Golgi
The ribosomes tRNA and mRNA can be used again
Several ribosomes can be on the same mRNA at the same time
this is called a polysome
 ATP
Many many biological processes require energy
Cells require energy for three main types of activity

molecules such as
synthesis eg large protein
Transport eg pumping ions across cell membranes
Movement
eg protein fibres in muscle cells that cause muscle
contraction
Inside cells molecules of adenosine triphosphate ATP are able to
supply this energy in a
way that it can be used
ATP is very similar to the nucleotides of DNA and RNA
However ATP always uses the base Adenine and there are three phosphate
groups rather than one

How it works

Energy is needed to break bonds and energy is released when bonds

are formed
A small amount of energy is needed to break the weak bonds in
ATP to release a phosphate group
Lots of energy is then released when the phosphate group undergoes other
reactions involving bond formation

More energy is released than is used and the net release is 30.6 65m01
As water is involved in the removal of the phosphate group this is
an example of a hydrolysis reaction

120 t Pi t energy
FTP Ap
Adenosine
whter
inorganic
Tri Phosphate Adenosine phosphate
diphosphate

ATP is hydrolysed into adenosine diphosphate ADP and a phosphate ion

Cellular respiration releases energy from the stored energyfound in

carbohydrates and fats and uses it to reattach a phosphate group
to an ADP molecule

This is called phosphorylation

is removed it is also an example of a condensation

gownater

Properties of ATP
small moves easily into out and within cells
Water soluble energy requiring processes happen in aqueous environments
Contains bonds between phosphates with intermediate energy large enough
to be useful but not too large to be wasteful
Releases energy in small quantities reduces energy wastes as heat
Easily regenerated