26. Nucleic Acids and Protein Synthesis

Draw the structures of adenine and uracil (which replaces thymine in RNA), and show the hydrogen bonding that occurs between them.

(a) DNA and RNA, like proteins, can be denatured to produce unfolded or uncoiled strands. Heating DNA to what is referred to as its “melting temperature” denatures it (the two strands of the double helix become separated). Why does a longer strand of DNA have a higher melting temperature than a shorter one?

a. What is meant by the term base pairing?

What does it mean to speak of bases as being complementary?

The DNA from sea urchins contains about 32% A and about 18% G. What percentages of T and C would you expect in sea urchin DNA? Explain.

If a double-stranded DNA molecule is 22% G, what is the percentage of A, T, and C? Explain.

Write the base sequence in a complementary DNA segment if each original segment has the following base sequence:

d. C T G T A T A C G T T A

Write the base sequence in a complementary DNA segment if each original segment has the following base sequence:

d. A T A T G C G C T A A A

 If the DNA double helix in salmon contains 28% adenine, what is the percentage of thymine, guanine, and cytosine? (17.3)

 In DNA, how many hydrogen bonds form between guanine and cytosine?

Write the complementary base sequence for each of the following DNA segments

c. G G C C T A C C T T A A C G A C G

How are the two strands of nucleic acid in DNA held together?

Write the base sequence and label the 3' and 5' ends of the complementary strand for a segment of DNA with the following base sequences:

b. 5'CCCCTTTT3'

"Write the base sequence and label the 3' and 5' ends of the complementary strand for a segment of DNA with the following base sequences:

d. 5'CGCGATATTA3'"

Fill in the following table with the analogous nucleic acid structures:

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Write the complementary base sequence for each of the following DNA segments. Indicate the 5' and the 3' ends.

b. 5'ATAGCCCTTACTGG3'