Nucleic acids

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  • Nucleic acids
    • contains genetic information - all the instructions you need to grow and develop from a fertilized egg to a fully grown adult
      • DNA  nucleotides have a paired structure, which makes it easier to copy itself, called self replication
        • DNA copies itself before cell division so that each new cell has the full amount of DNA
          • hydrogen bonds between the two polynucleotide DNA strands break. the helix unzips to form 2 single strands
            • each original strand acts as a template for a new strand. free-floating DNA nucleotides to join to the exposed bases on each orignal template strand by complementary base pairing
              • the nucleotides on the new strand are joined together by the enzyme polymerase. hydrogen bonds form between the bases on the original and new strand
                • each new DNA molecule contains one strange from the original DNA molecule and one new strand
            • 'semi conservative' replication because half of the new strands of DNA are strands from the original piece of DNA
      • contains genes - sections of DNA that code for a specific sequence of amino acids
      • nucleotides
        • DNA is a polynucleotide -its made up from nucleotides joined together
        • each nucleotide is made from a deoxyribose sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogen containing base
        • bases can vary; Cytosine, Adenine, Thymine, and Guanine
        • complimentary base pairing
          • a purine attaches to a pyrimidine
            • purine A and G
            • pyrimidine T and C
            • Adenine and Thymine
              • 2 hydrogen bonds
            • Cytosine and GUanine
              • 3  hydrogen bonds
    • used to make proteins from the instructions contained within the DNA
      • very similar to DNA but 3 major differences:
        • The sugar in RNA nucleotides is a ribose sugar
        • the nucleotides form a single polynucleotide strand
        • Uracil replaces Thymine as a base

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