D. NUCLEIC ACIDS 1.ARE MADE OF THE ELEMENTS C,H,O,N,P
2. INCLUDE DNA AND RNA
3. ARE LARGE & COMPLEX ORGANIC MOLECULES THAT: STORE AND TRANSMIT HEREDITARY INFORMATION, CONTAIN THE CODE FOR SEQUENCING AMINO ACIDS INTO PROTEINS
4. USE A SYSTEM OF 4 COMPOUNDS TO STORE HEREDITARY INFORMATION.
5. THE SEQUENCE OF THE FOUR COMPOUNDS OR BASES DETERMINES THE GENETIC CODE OF THE ORGANISM.
This is accomplished as follows: The sequence of bases – adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine – in the DNA Determines the sequence of amino acids The amino acid sequence is the primary structure of a protein Then hydrogen bonds will determine whether the amino acid chain is a helix or A pleated sheet – this is the secondary structure
Next the interactions of the R groups – hydrophobic fold in/hydrophilic out; the Charge of the R groups/ the building of disulfide bridges cause the helix or sheet To twist and fold – this is the tertiary structure
These factors along with the fact that some proteins are made of more than one Polypeptide chain (quarternary structure) ultimately determine the shape of the protein Structure influences function
6. THE FOUR BASES ARE ADENINE THYMINE CYTOSINE GUANINE
ADENINE
GUANINE
CYTOSINE
THYMINE
7. DNA STANDS FOR DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID
8. RNA STANDS FOR RIBONUCLEIC ACID
9. THE MONOMERS OF NUCLEIC ACIDS ARE CALLED NUCLEOTIDES