EThecturernote

PEB101: General Biology 1

What is DNA?
molecules in
DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, is one of the nucleic acids, information-containing
or
the cell. It stores the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every
cell in a person's body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is
called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it
is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

The building block of DNA or DNA compositions

The information in DNA is stored code made up of four
as a
nitrogen
bases: adenine (A), guanine
(G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T), a phosphate and a pentose
nucleotides which are the basic building block of DNA. Each deoxyribose sugar thus making the
nucleotide consists of a
(deoxyribose) bound on one side to a phosphate group and bound on the other side sugar to a
nitrogenous base, whercas, a base and a pentose
DNA consists of about 3 billion bases deoxyribose sugar form the nucleosides. Human
and more than 99 percent of those bases are the
people. The order, or sequence, of these bases determines same in all
and maintaining an the information available for building
organism, similar to the way in which letters of the
order to form words and sentences. alphabet appear in a certain
DEOXYRIBOSE

HOCH2 o OH
H
OH H HO.
p-0
Deoxynibose has ahydrogen here rather than -OH. HO
Pentose Deoxyribose sugar

Nitrogen bases in DNA

Phosphate group
are classified into two classes;
1. Purines
(double-ringed structures)

6 NH2
-

9N

Punne NH2
Adenine (A)
Purine ring structure Cuanine G)

Adenine (A)
Guanine (G)
 Lecture note

PEB101: General Biology 1

(single-ringed structures)
2. Pyrimidines

NH2

3 HC
N NH

H
H
Pyrimidine Cytosine (CD Thymine ()

Pyrimidine Cytosine (C) Thymine (T)

NH2
N N NH

HO
HO N-glycosidic Linkage CH NH2
H H
H
OH OH H
OH OH
Adenosne Guanosine
Nucleoside containing Adenine (A) Nucleoside containing Guanine (G)
NH2

N:
HC
NH
HO
CH2 HO N
CH2
H
OH OH H
OH H
Cytidine
Thymidine
Nucleoside containing
Cytosine (C) Nucleoside containing Thymine (T)
PEB101: General Biology 1 Lecture note

OH NH2
OH

0-P=0 O-P=0
0-CH2 0b. base
0-CH2O O

OH H
OH H
Nuclcotide
Nucleotide containing cytosine
DNA Structure

DNA bases pair up with each

other, A with T andC with G, to form units called base
base is also attached to a
sugar moleeule and a phosphate molecule.
pairs. Each
phosphate are called a nucleotide. Nucleotides are arranged in two Together, a base,
sugar, and
called a double helix. The structure of long strands that form a spiral
the double helix
pairs forming the ladder's rungs and the sugar and is somewhat like a ladder, with the base
sidepieces of the ladder. phosphate molecules fornming the vertical

Building the DNA Structure

Once a nucleotide is
formed, there will be series of nucleotide
a unifornms base pairing whereby a building up in form of a block, and
purine will always pair with a pyrimidine bound
hydrogen bonds holding each strand. DNA strands align in the direction of5' together by
that is the two chains run and 3' to 3' and 5'
in opposite directions.

adenine (A) pairs with thymine (T)

guanine (G) pairs with cytosine (C)
 Biology 1
PEB101: General Lecture note

NH2
N N

N
HO N-glyr osdhe Linkage

H
H
OH OH

Adenosine
Nucleoside

OH

o-P=0
O-CH2 O pase

H
base
OH H

Nucleotide
 General Biology 1 Lecture note
PEB101:

A building block of nucleotide (one strand formed)

DNA had two sides, or strands, and that these strands
were twisted
-

the double helix. The sides of the ladder together like a twisted ladder -
comprise the sugar-phosphate
nucleotides bonded together. The phosphate of one nucleotide is portions of adjacent
which one or more pairs of electrons are shared covalently bound (a bond in
by two atoms) to the sugar of the next nucleotide.
The hydrogen bonds between
phosphates cause the DNA strand to twist. The nitrogenous bases
point inward on the ladder and form pairs with bases on the other side, like
is formed from two rungs. Each base pair
complementary nucleotides (purine with pyrimidine) bound together by
hydrogen bonds. The nitrogenous bases on the two strands of DNA pair up, purine with pyrimidine
(A with T, G with C), and are held
together by weak hydrogen bonds.
 Lecture note
Biology 1
General

PEB101:

P
(T A Hydrogen bond

(P
Phosphatediester bond
P G

A final structure for DNA

Sugar-phosphate
backbone

PhosphoruS
Carbon in
sugar phosphate
"backbone"

0.34 nm

3.4 nm
Hydrogen
EA
A Oxygen
1E
Bases

2 nm

The double-helical structure of DNA