Study Guide: DNA Structure

Study Questions

Objective: Describe the experiments, data, and conclusions that were instrumental in the discovery of the structure of DNA.

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Vocabulary

  1. Nucleic acid
  2. Nucleotide
  3. Nitrogen base
  4. Purine
  5. Pyrimidine
  6. Pentose sugar
  7. Phosphate group

Study Guide Questions

  1. Clearly describe the general structure of nucleic acids.
  2. Write one sentence that clearly illustrates the relationship between “nucleotide” and “nucleic acid”.
  3. Compare and contrast DNA and RNA.
  4. Distinguish between the 3’ and 5’ ends of a nucleic acid.
  5. Answer questions like this:  If 22% of an organism’s DNA contains ADENINE nucleotides, how many THYMINE nucleotides will the DNA contain?  Guanine?  Cytosine?
  6. Given a handful of nucleotides, be able to build a correct model of DNA.