BIOL 1543 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Francis Crick, Polynucleotide, Nitrogenous Base
Document Summary
10. 2: dna and rna are polymers of nucleotides. Unique dna properties: capacity to store genetic information, copy it, and pass it from generation to generation. Dna and rna are nucleic acids consisting of long chains of nucleotides. One of the two dna strands is a dna polynucleotide (nucleotide polymer chain) Each dna nucleotide type has a different nitrogen-containing base: Nucleotides can occur in a polynucleotide in any sequence. Nucleotides are joined together by a sugar-phosphate backbone. Rna is also a polymer of nucleotides. Has nitrogenous base uracil (u) instead of thymine (t) 1952 hershey-chase experiment convinced most biologists that dna stored genetic information. Dna structure: james d. watson & francis crick. Each nitrogenous base has protruding functional groups that can best form hydrogen bonds with just one appropriate partner complementary (a) (t) & (g) (c) Twisted rope ladder analogy for double-helix structure: Wooden rungs represent pairs of nitrogenous bases joined by h bonds.