DNA - A NUCLEIC ACID.

MODELLING
Reminder
The principle biological macro molecules are:
1: LIPIDS
The polymers:
2: CARBOHYDRATES (eg. starch, glycogen and the simpler sugars, glucose, etc.)
3: PROTEINS
4: NUCLEIC ACIDS
The important NUCLEIC ACIDS are:

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid

RNA (mRNA & tRNA) Ribonucleic acid

NUCLEIC ACIDS consist of long chains of NUCLEOTIDE monomers, each monomer containing 3
component molecules. The nucleotides are repeated and repeated to form the polymers DNA or RNA.
The 3 components of the nucleotides are:

RIBOSE SUGAR (a pentose, with 5 carbons)

PHOSPHATE
One of 5 possible BASES, containing NITROGEN

The sugar and the phosphate form a backbone, from which the nitrogen base groups project. These molecules
are bonded by co-valent electron sharing. In DNA, the ribose sugar lacks one oxygen and is called
DEOXYRIBOSE sugar. Otherwise the nucleotides of all nucleic acids contain the same 3 molecules, forming
the monomers, the only differences being which of the 5 N bases is incorporated into each nucleotide.
The RNA polymer is a simple helix of several hundred, or even thousands, of repeating nucleotide monomers riboses, phosphates and bases. It is a single strand of nucleic acid. In RNA the bases can be Adenine (A) and
Uracil (U), or Cytosine (C) and Guanine (G).
The DNA polymer consists of two helices (double helix) of nucleic acids, running side by side but in opposite
directions (anti-parallel), and loosely linked by hydrogen bonds between the nitrogen bases of the 2 strands.
There are so many of these hydrogen bonded bases that the two strands are quite firmly bonded together. The
four bases found in DNA are Adenine (A) which only pairs with Thymine (T), and Cytosine (C) which only
pairs with Guanine (G).

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DNA Model - HL
The assignment is to construct (not draw) a simple, labelled model of a small molecule of DNA,
maybe with 5 pairs of bases, showing the two backbone strands of deoxyribose and phosphate, lying
opposite each other, and linked together by paired nitrogen bases. All 4 bases found in DNA should be
shown. The model should be one-dimensional, using coloured and shaped paper, stuck onto a large
sheet, which can be displayed.
In addition to the Core/SL structural requirements, the model should show the anti-parallell (3'->5' &
5'->3') structure of the two DNA strands, as well as the molecular shape of deoxyribose sugar and its
relation to the C3 C5 bonding with the phosphate group, and the C1' bonding with the N bases. The
model should also show:
Purines (A & G) being different from pyrimidines (T & C)
Differentiation between two (A & T) or three (G & C) hydrogen bonds linking the N bases.