LIFE 122

LIFE SCIENCES FOR EDUCATION – GENETIC

CODING
Dr BG Ndawonde

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UNIT 1: Nucleosides, Nucleotides, and Nucleic Acids.
Nucleic acids are the third class of biopolymers (polysaccharides
and proteins being the others)
Two major classes of nucleic acids
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA): carrier of genetic information
ribonucleic acid (RNA): an intermediate in the expression
of genetic information and other diverse roles
The Central Dogma (F. Crick):

DNA mRNA Protein

(genome) (transcriptome) (proteome)

The monomeric units for nucleic acids are nucleotides

Nucleotides are made up of three structural subunits
1. Sugar: ribose in RNA, 2-deoxyribose in DNA
2. Heterocyclic base
3. Phosphate
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Nucleoside, nucleotides and nucleic acids
phosphate

sugar base

phosphate phosphate

sugar base
sugar base sugar base

phosphate
nucleoside nucleotides
sugar base

nucleic acids

The chemical linkage between monomer units in nucleic acids pho

4
Pyrimidines and Purines. The heterocyclic base; there
are five common bases for nucleic acids.

Note that G, T and U exist in the keto form (and not the enol
form found in phenols)

NH2 O
7 6
N 5 1
N N N
8
N NH
2
9 N 4 N N N
H 3 N N NH2
H H
purine adenine (A) guanine (G)
DNA/RNA DNA/RNA

NH2 O O
4
5 3
H3C
N N NH NH
6 2
N 1
N O N O N O
H H H
pyrimidine cytosine (C) thymine (T) uracil (U)
DNA/RNA DNA RNA

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Phosphodiesters, Oligonucleotides, and
3'

O
Polynucleotides. The chemical linkage between O P
O O
nucleotide units in nucleic acids is a phosphodiester, 5' O
Base

which connects the 5’-hydroxyl group of one 3'

O X
nucleotide to the 3’-hydroxyl group of O P
O O
the next nucleotide. 5' O
Base

3'

By convention, nucleic acid sequences are written O X

from left to right, from the 5’-end to the 3’-end. 5'

Nucleic acids are negatively charged RNA, X= OH

DNA, X=H
Nucleic Acids.
1944: Avery, MacLeod & McCarty - Strong evidence that DNA
is genetic material
1950: Chargaff - careful analysis of DNA from a wide variety of
organisms. Content of A,T, C & G varied widely according
to the organism, however: A=T and C=G (Chargaff’ Rule)
1953: Watson & Crick - structure of DNA (1962 Nobel Prize with
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M. Wilkens, 1962) 8
 Purines Pyrimidines
Purine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic Pyrimidine is a heterocyclic aromatic
compound composed of a pyrimidine ring organic compound that is composed of
fused with imidazole ring. carbon and hydrogen.

It comprises adenine and guanine as It comprises cytosine, thymine, uracil as

nucleobases. nucleobases
It consists of two hydrogen-carbon rings It consists of one hydrogen-carbon ring
and four nitrogen atoms and two nitrogen atoms
The melting point of purine is 214 °C The melting point of pyrimidine is 20-22
°C

Catabolism results in the production of Catabolism produces carbon dioxide,

uric acid beta-amino acids and ammonia

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DNA double helix

major
groove
12 Å
one
helical
turn
34 Å minor
groove
6Å

backbone: deoxyribose and phosphodiester linkage

bases
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Tertiary Structure of DNA: Supercoils. Each cell contains
about two meters of DNA. DNA is “packaged” by coiling around
a core of proteins known as histones. The DNA-histone
assembly is called a nucleosome. Histones are rich is lysine
and arginine residues.

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Pdb code 1kx5
 Protein synthesis
• In your own words. Explain the following
process:
• Replication
• Transcription
• Translation

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 DNA Replication

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 Steps in DNA replication
• www.google.com/search?
q=Differences+between+the+lagging+and+leading+strand+of+DNA&sca_esv=af10a1c73c0
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 Transcription
• In DNA transcription, DNA is transcribed to produce RNA. The
RNA transcript is then used to produce a protein.
• The three main steps of transcription are initiation, elongation,
and termination.
• In initiation, the enzyme RNA polymerase binds to DNA at the
promoter region.
• In elongation, RNA polymerase transcribes DNA into RNA.
• In termination, RNA polymerase releases from DNA ending
transcription.
• Reverse transcription processes use the enzyme reverse
transcriptase to convert RNA to DNA.

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 Translation

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 Example

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“It has not escaped our attention that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately
suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.” Watson & Crick

Replication of DNA.
The Central Dogma (F. Crick):
DNA replication
DNA transcription mRNA translation Protein
(genome) (transcriptome) (proteome)

Expression and transfer of genetic information:

Replication: process by which DNA is copied with very high
fidelity.
Transcription: process by which the DNA genetic code is read
and transferred to messenger RNA (mRNA). This is an
intermediate step in protein expression
Translation: The process by which the genetic code is converted
to a protein, the end product of gene expression.
The DNA sequence codes for the mRNA sequence, which
codes for the protein sequence
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DNA is replicated by the coordinated efforts of a number of
proteins and enzymes.

For replication, DNA must be unknotted, uncoiled and the

double helix unwound.
Topoisomerase: Enzyme that unknots and uncoils DNA
Helicase: Protein that unwinds the DNA double helix.
DNA polymerase: Enzyme that replicates DNA using each strand
as a template for the newly synthesized strand.
DNA ligase: enzyme that catalyzes the formation of the
phosphodiester bond between pieces of DNA.

DNA replication is semi-conservative: Each new strand of DNA

contains one parental (old, template) strand and one
daughter () strand
newly synthesized
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DNA replication occurs with very high fidelity:
Most DNA polymerases have high intrinsic fidelity
Many DNA polymerases have “proof-reading”
(exonuclease) activity
Mismatch repair proteins seek out and repair base-pair
mismatches due to unfaithful replication
Ribonucleic Acid
RNA contains ribose rather than 2-deoxyribose and uracil rather
than thymine. RNA usually exist as a single strand.

There are three major kinds of RNA

messenger RNA (mRNA):
ribosomal RNA (rRNA)
transfer RNA (tRNA)

DNA is found in the cell nucleus and mitochondria; RNA is more

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disperse in the cell.
. Three Types of RNA
• Messenger RNA (mRNA)
carries genetic
information to the
ribosomes
• Ribosomal RNA (rRNA),
along with protein,
makes up the ribosomes
• Transfer RNA (tRNA)
transfers amino acids to
the ribosomes where
proteins are synthesized
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 Messenger RNA (mRNA)

start
codon
A U G G G C U C C A U C G G C G C A U A A
mRNA

codon 1 codon 2 codon 3 codon 4 codon 5 codon 6 codon 7

protein methionine glycine serine isoleucine glycine alanine stop

codon

Primary structure of a protein

aa1 aa2 aa3 aa4 aa5 aa6

09/13/24 peptide bonds 30

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• Go through this link for more questions

• https://efundi.nwu.ac.za/access/content/
group/d11e6b65-d8f1-464f-b19f-
249f646cf20c/Student%20Sources%20SU
%201/POE1.5.jpg

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• The end
• Next lecture: Practicals check on Efundi
for the pract plans

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