Biology Vocab From Chapter 11

Front 1

Bacteriophage

Back 1

a virus that infects bacteria

Front 2

deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

Back 2

the heritable genetic information of an organism is stored here.

Front 3

nucleotides

Back 3

the building blocks (the monomers) of nucleic acid polymer => 4 types make up DNA

Front 4

nitrogenous base

Back 4

a single or double ring of carbon and nitrogen atoms with functional groups (nitrogenous means “nitrogen containing”)

Front 5

pyrimidines

Back 5

the bases thymine (T) and cytosine (C) are single-ring structures.

Front 6

purines

Back 6

adenine (A) and guanine (G) are larger, double-ring structures

Front 7

DNA polymerases

Back 7

enzymes that make the covalent bonds between the nucleotide of the new DNA strand.

Front 8

Genotype

Back 8

its genetic makeup=> it is the sequence of nucleotide bases in its DNA

Front 9

Phenotype

Back 9

the organism’s specific traits=> lies in proteins and their wide variety of functions

Front 10

RNA (ribonucleic acid)

Back 10

any nucleic acid whose sugar is ribose rather than the deoxyribose of DNA

Front 11

transcription

Back 11

a message that leaves the nucleus and directs making proteins in the cytoplasm

Front 12

Genetic translation

Back 12

converts nucleic acid language into amino acid language.

Front 13

codons

Back 13

a three-base “word” that codes for one amino acid

Front 14

virus

Back 14

package of nucleic acid wrapped in a protein

Front 15

double helix

Back 15

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

Front 16

DNA replication

Back 16

process of copying DNA molecules

Front 17

The Triplet Code

Back 17

1960’s=> Marshall Nirenberg built a RNA molecule that had Uracil nucleotides called “poly U”=> because it contained only uracil nucleotides, it contained one type of codon: UUU

Front 18

Messenger RNA(mRNA)

Back 18

RNA molecule transcribed from a DNA template

Front 19

RNA polymerase

Back 19

transcription enzyme that links RNA nucleotides together

Front 20

introns

Back 20

internal noncoding regions

Front 21

exons

Back 21

the part of the gene that remain in the mRNA and will be translated

Front 22

RNA splicing

Back 22

process by which the introns are removed from RNA transcripts and the remaining exons are joined together

Front 23

Transfer RNA (tRNA)

Back 23

translates the three-letter codons of mRNA to the amino acids that make up proteins

Front 24

anticodon

Back 24

are complementary to a specific codon in the mRNA

Front 25

ribosomal RNA (rRNA)

Back 25

RNA component of ribosomes

Front 26

mutagens

Back 26

physical or chemical agents that cause mutations.