Information genetic

PCR can also be used to modify DNA sequences using primers differing at one or several positions from the target sequence. This is possible because PCR does not require perfect complementarity of a primer to the sequence flanking the target. Since all of the PCR products contain the primer sequence, an insertion or deletion can thus be incorporated into the product by modifying a primer. It is also possible to add new sequences to the 5 -ends of the primers. Modified or additional genetic information may thus be multiplied and transr ported. 

The major classes of organic compounds common to living systems are lipids pro terns nucleic acids and carbohydrates Carbohydrates are very familiar to us— we call many of them sugars They make up a substantial portion of the food we eat and provide most of the energy that keeps the human engine running Carbohy drates are structural components of the walls of plant cells and the wood of trees Genetic information is stored and transferred by way of nucleic acids specialized derivatives of carbohydrates which we 11 examine m more detail m Chapter 28... 

The hydroxyl at C 2 m D nbose is absent m 2 deoxy d nbose In Chapter 28 we shall see how derivatives of 2 deoxy d nbose called deoxynbonucleotides are the funda mental building blocks of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) the material responsible for stor mg genetic information L Rhamnose is a compound isolated from a number of plants Its carbon chain terminates m a methyl rather than a CH2OH group... 

Nucleic acids are acidic substances present m the nuclei of cells and were known long before anyone suspected they were the primary substances involved m the storage transmission and processing of genetic information There are two kinds of nucleic acids ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) Both are complicated biopolymers based on three structural units a carbohydrate a phosphate ester linkage between carbohydrates and a heterocyclic aromatic compound The heterocyclic aro matic compounds are referred to as purine and pyrimidine bases We 11 begin with them and follow the structural thread... 

As important as nucleotides of adenosine are to bioenergetics that is not the only indispensable part they play m biology The remainder of this chapter describes how these and related nucleotides are the key compounds m storing and expressing genetic information... 

Avery s paper prompted other biochemists to rethink their ideas about DNA One of them Erwin Chargaff of Columbia University soon discovered that the distribution of adenine thymine cytosine and guanine differed from species to species but was the same within a species and within all the cells of a species Perhaps DNA did have the capacity to carry genetic information after all Chargaff also found that regardless of the source of the DNA half the bases were purines and the other half were pyrimidines Significantly the ratio of the purine adenine (A) to the pyrimidine thymine (T) was always close to 1 1 Likewise the ratio of the purine guanine (G) to the pyrimidine cyto sine (C) was also close to 1 1 For human DNA the values are... 

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) (Section 28 7) A polynucleotide of 2 deoxynbose present in the nuclei of cells that serves to store and replicate genetic information Genes are DNA... 

Primary and Secondary Structure. The DNA double helix was first identified by Watson and Crick in 1953 (4). Not only was the Watson-Crick model consistent with the known physical and chemical properties of DNA, but it also suggested how genetic information could be organized and rephcated, thus providing a foundation for modem molecular biology. 

The DNA molecules in each cell of an organism contain all the genetic information necessary to ensure the normal development and function of that organism. This genetic information is encoded in the precise linear sequence of the nucleotide bases from which the DNA is built. DNA is a linear molecule while its diameter is only about 20 A, if stretched out its length can reach many millimeters. This means that concentrated solutions of DNA can be pulled into fibers in which the long thin DNA molecules are oriented with their long axes parallel. 

We have seen in the structure of this simple satellite virus that 60 subunits are sufficient to form a shell around an RNA molecule that codes for the subunit protein, but there is little room for additional genetic information. 

Once the broad outlines of DNA replication and protein biosynthesis were established, scientists speculated about how these outlines affected various "origins of life" scenarios. A key question concerned the fact that proteins are required for the synthesis of DNA, yet the synthesis of these proteins is coded for by DNA. Which came first, DNA or proteins How could DNA store genetic information if there were no enzymes to catalyze the polymerization of its nucleotide components How could there be proteins if there were no DNA to code for them ... 

Nucleus The nucleus is separated from the cytosol by a double membrane, the nuclear envelope. The DNA is complexed with basic proteins (histones) to form chromatin fibers, the material from which chromosomes are made. A distinct RNA-rich region, the nucleolus, is the site of ribosome assembly. The nucleus is the repository of genetic information encoded in DNA and organized into chromosomes. During mitosis, the chromosomes are replicated and transmitted to the daughter cells. The genetic information of DNA is transcribed into RNA in the nucleus and passes into the cytosol where it is translated into protein by ribosomes. 

Proteins are a diverse and abundant class of biomolecules, constituting more than 50% of the dry weight of cells. This diversity and abundance reflect the central role of proteins in virtually all aspects of cell structure and function. An extraordinary diversity of cellular activity is possible only because of the versatility inherent in proteins, each of which is specifically tailored to its biological role. The pattern by which each is tailored resides within the genetic information of cells, encoded in a specific sequence of nucleotide bases in DNA. 

Each such segment of encoded information defines a gene, and expression of the gene leads to synthesis of the specific protein encoded by it, endowing the cell with the functions unique to that particular protein. Proteins are the agents of biological function they are also the expressions of genetic information. 

The unique characteristic of each protein is the distinctive sequence of amino acid residues in its polypeptide chain(s). Indeed, it is the amino acid sequence of proteins that is encoded by the nucleotide sequence of DNA. This amino acid sequence, then, is a form of genetic information. By convention, the amino acid sequence is read from the N-terminal end of the polypeptide chain through to the C-terminal end. As an example, every molecule of ribonucle-... 

NUCLEOPROTEINS. Nucleoprotein conjugates have many roles in the storage and transmission of genetic information. Ribosomes are the sites of protein synthesis. Virus particles and even chromosomes are protein-nucleic acid complexes. 

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