1. The Molecule of Life

2.  Carry the instructions to build proteins  Carry hereditary instructions from one generation to the next.  Nucleic acids are built from NUCLEOTIDES (simple building blocks that are found in the cytoplasm of the cell).

3. There are two types of nucleic acids: 1. DNA - deoxyribonucleic acid 2. RNA - ribonucleic acid  One phosphate group  One sugar group: DNA (deoxyribose) or RNA (ribose)  One nitrogenous base

4. 5-Carbon Sugar Phosphate group Nitrogenous Base

5. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Image:Phosphodiest erBondDiagram.png Author: http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/User:G3pro Phosphate group Nitrogenous Base (GC or AT) 5-Carbon Sugar

6. The four possible nucleotides in DNA are:  phosphate - sugar - guanine  phosphate - sugar - adenine  phosphate - sugar - cytosine  phosphate - sugar - thymine

7. The four possible nucleotides in RNA are:  phosphate - sugar - guanine  phosphate - sugar - adenine  phosphate - sugar - cytosine  phosphate - sugar - uracil

8.  The nitrogenous bases are: Adenine Thymine Guanine Cytosine

9. In DNA, the base pairs are:  guanine – cytosine  adenine – thymine* In RNA, the base pairs are:  guanine – cytosine  adenine - uracil*

12. Source: Madeleine Price Ball

13. Source: ©1999 William Reusch, All rights reserved (most recent revision 7/16/2007) – Permission granted

14.  DNA is a double helix structure that curves up and to the right.  The curve or twist of DNA creates a minor and major groove.

16. Source: 3dscience and en.wikipedia

17.  A molecule transcribed from DNA  Provides a template for protein synthesis  Three kinds of RNA: ◦ mRNA – communicates the amino acid sequence for protein synthesis ◦ tRNA – brings the correct amino acid to the growing polypeptide chain ◦ rRNA – the site of protein synthesis in the ribosome

18. Source: Sverdrup @en.wikipedia

19. Source: Access Excellence @ the National Health Museum http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/VL/GG/rna2.php

20. Source: ©1999 William Reusch, All rights reserved (most recent revision 7/16/2007) – Permission granted

21. Source: ©1999 William Reusch, All rights reserved (most recent revision 7/16/2007) – Permission granted