DNA Vocab 🧬

Nucleotide

A building block of DNA, consisting of a five-carbon sugar covalently bonded to a nitrogenous base and a phosphate group.

Guanine

A component of nucleic acids that carries hereditary information in DNA and RNA in cells. Chemically, it is a purine base.

Cytosine

A component of nucleic acids that carries hereditary information in DNA and RNA in cells. Chemically, it is a pyrimidine base.

Adenine

A component of nucleic acids, energy-carrying molecules such as ATP, and certain coenzymes. Chemically, it is a purine base.

Codon

A specific sequence of three adjacent bases on a strand of DNA or RNA that provides genetic code information for a particular amino acid

mRNA (messenger RNA)

RNA molecule that carries copies of instructions for the assembly of amino acids into proteins from DNA to the rest of the cell

Genetics code

The genetic code is the set of rules used by living cells to translate information encoded within genetic material into proteins.

gene expression

The process by which information encoded in DNA directs the synthesis of proteins or, in some cases, RNAs that are not translated into proteins and instead function as RNAs.

single stranded

The structure of RNA; has one strand

Thymine

a compound that is one of the four constituent bases of nucleic acids. A pyrimidine derivative, it is paired with adenine in double-stranded DNA.

base pair

a pair of complementary bases in a double-stranded nucleic acid molecule, consisting of a purine in one strand linked by hydrogen bonds to a pyrimidine in the other. Cytosine always pairs with guanine, and adenine with thymine (in DNA) or uracil (in RNA).

DNA

deoxyribonucleic acid, a self-replicating material present in nearly all living organisms as the main constituent of chromosomes. It is the carrier of genetic information.

Junk DNA

genomic DNA that does not encode proteins, and whose function, if it has one, is not well understood.

protein

macromolecule that contains carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen; needed by the body for growth and repair

Coding DNA

sequences of a gene's DNA (also known as exons) that are coded to produce a specific protein and are transcribed and translated during protein synthesis

double stranded

the structure of DNA, there are two strands that are anti-parallel

ridosome

transfer RNA, small cytoplasmic structure on which cells make their own proteins

double helix

two strands of nucleotides wound about each other; structure of DNA

tRNA (transfer RNA)

type of RNA molecule that transfers amino acids to ribosomes during protein synthesis