Nucleic Acids BC21C 2018 Student
Nucleic Acids BC21C 2018 Student
Nucleic Acids BC21C 2018 Student
COURSE TEXT: Molecular Biology of the Gene 6th Ed, by Watson et al.
The spots forming a cross in the centre denote a helical structure. The heavy
bands at the left and right arise from the recurring bases.
12
COMPONENTS OF NUCLEIC ACIDS
NITROGEN BASES
COMPONENTS OF NUCLEIC ACIDS cont.
15
NITROGEN BASES
16 NUCLEOSIDE
AZT (3’-azido-2’,3’-
dideoxythymidine) is a
antiretroviral drug used
for the treatment of
HIV/AIDS infection. Used
as an analogue -
nucleoside reverse
transcriptase inhibitor
NUCLEOSIDE FUNCTIONS: Application in
Medical treatment
Acyclovir : antiviral
drug, slows growth
and spread of the
herpes virus. It is a
nucleoside analogue
made from guanosine
NUCLEOSIDE FUNCTIONS
Nucleoside Nucleotide
DNA/RNA backbone
a polymer with an alternating sugar-
phosphate sequence.
The deoxyribose sugars are joined at
both the 3'-hydroxyl and 5'-hydroxyl
groups to phosphate groups in ester links,
also known as "phosphodiester" bonds
38 DNA & RNA
BACKBONE-
Primary
Structure
Secondary structure of DNA
The sugar-phosphate
backbones of the two
DNA strands wind
around the helix axis like
the railing of a spiral
staircase
The bases are on the
inside of the helix,
stacked like the steps of
a spiral staircase.
50 DNA HELIX AXIS
The helix axis is most apparent from a
view directly down the axis.
The sugar-phosphate backbone is
on the outside of the helix where
the polar phosphate groups can
interact with the polar environment.
The nitrogen containing bases are
inside, stacking perpendicular to
the helix axis.
C G
5 end
C G Hydrogen bond
3 end THE
G C
G C T A
DOUBLE
3.4 nm
HELIX.
T A
G C G C
C G
A T
1 nm C G
T A
C G
G C
C G A T
A T
A T 3 end
T A
0.34 nm 5 end
A (Na)
75% RH Right 11.0 ~2.6 2.8 30° N/D W/S
Z (high Na)
Left 12.0 ~1.8 4.5 9º Flat N/D
_________________________________________________________
W/D = wide and deep W/S = wide and shallow
N/D = narrow and deep
DNA conformations
In solution, DNA constantly subjected to localized
thermally induced fluctuations in the arrangement of its
atoms which causes individual molecules to bend, twist
and stretch.
DNA can either be linear or circular.
Most bacterial chromosomes are circular.
Certain phages or viruses have linear DNA, e.g.,
Lambda phage, adenovirus, poxvirus.
Some molecules that are linear when isolated from a
virus particle are found as circular forms inside the host.
DNA Supercoil
The molecule at the left is relaxed, and the degree of supercoiling increases from left to right.
Supercoiling is
observed in cyclic
DNA
chromosomal DNA in
bacteria is negatively
supercoiled In E. coli,
DNA SUPERCOIL
RIBONUCLEIC Acid [RNA]
LECTURE 3
67 RNA: RIBONUCLEIC Acid
Chemically, RNA is very similar to DNA. There are
some main differences:
– RNA uses the sugar ribose instead of
deoxyribose in its backbone.
– RNA uses the base Uracil (U) instead of
Thymine (T). U is also complementary to A.
– RNA tends to be single-stranded.
Functional differences between RNA and DNA
– DNA single function, RNA many functions
Example of types of RNA: mRNA, tRNA, rRNA
Three types of RNA are involved in Protein
68
Synthesis
Eukaryotes Prokaryotes
The unit "S" stands for Svedberg, which is a measure of the sedimentation rate.
COMPOSITION
OF RIBOSOMES
Other RNAs
short p arm
centromere
long q arm
telomere
Chromosomes
• chromosomes contain
DNA, histones and
other proteins that
affect gene expression
(which proteins and
how many proteins are
synthesized from a
given gene).
DNA-protein complexes
DNA REPLICATION
TRANSCRIPTION TRANSLATION
106
107 GENETIC CODE
The genomes are compact; their entire The genome sizes are variable,
DNA is functional.
divided into multiple linear chromosomes; each
The sizes ranges from about 1 million to contains a DNA
10 million base pairs of DNA
not organized into operons; one mRNA makes
usually in a single, circular chromosome one protein.
Genes are clustered together and Many genes (most human genes) are split;
arranged into operons, where they are introns removed and the exons spliced to make
transcribed as a single mRNA that is a mature mRNA.
translated to make all the proteins in the
operon. The multiple exons can be spliced in different
ways to make multiple mRNAs and multiple
The size of prokaryotic genomes is
proteins from a single gene (alternative splicing).
directly related to their metabolic
capabilities – the more genes, the more The majority of human genes can be spliced in
proteins and enzymes they make. two or more different ways. Therefore, the actual
number of human proteins far exceeds the
number of protein-coding genes.