DNA
1 • 1 .4 The structure of DNA
The basic unit of DNA is the nucleotide. A nucleotide consists of a
sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. Nucleotides join
together to form a double helix which is like a twisted ladder. The
'sides' of the ladder are the sugar and phosphate. The 'rungs' of the
ladder are two nitrogenous bases linked together as complementary
pairs.
The four nitrogenous bases are:
A= adenine T = thymine C= cytosine G = guanine
They ALWAYS link: A always with T; C always with G.
The code is read down one side, e.g. if one side has a sequence
ATTCGG, then the complementary code on the other side is TAAGCC.
A gene is a segment of DNA with a specific sequence of bases.
The DNA code is a triplet code. This means that three bases make
up the code for each specific amino acid. A gene consists of many bases
that code for a specific sequence of amino acids. Genes vary in length from
A nucl eotid e
about 8000 base pairs to more than two million base pairs. The length of
a DNA molecule is given by the number of base pairs (bp) and not by the De
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number of genes present. 9
� Nitrogenou s
[Link] What is the basic unit of DNA?
Nucleotide base
Phos phate
[Link] What are the 'sides' of the 'ladder' of the double helix?
Sugar and Phosphate
a-t, g-c
[Link] Identify the two pairs of complementary bases.
Three bases
1 .1.4.4 How many bases are in the DNA code for one amino acid? . ..... .... .
[Link] How many amino acids would be produced by the code-AAGGTATTGCTC?
4
[Link] The diagram shows a section of DNA that
has been untwisted. Cytosine Adenine
�-----------oo_,._.,_.,_.,__ _
Fill in the code for the bases on the right Thymine Adenine
hand side and identify the sugar and the ----·-----, .......... - .... -
phosphate symbols.
It's like a jigsaw!
