--%>

Structure of a DNA molecule

Elaborate the structure of a DNA molecule?

E

Expert

Verified

The molecule of a DNA is double-stranded. The molecule takes the shape of a double helix.
The DNA molecule has two complementary strands oriented in an anti-parallel fashion. All strand is made up of nucleotides. A nucleotide has a base (a purine or pyrimidine), a sugar (between the other two components) called deoxyribose, and a phosphate group. Nucleotides are connected to each other with phosphodiester bonds, creating a sugar-phosphate backbone to each strand.
Base of each nucleotide projects into an interior cavity of helix. Every base is opposite other base: adenine (a purine) is every time paired with the thymine (a pyrimidine), and the guanine (purine) with the cytosine (pyrimidine); this phenomenon is known as complementary base pairing.
Every nucleotide forms hydrogen bonds with its complementary base on another strand. Two hydrogen bonds form among adenine and thymine; three hydrogen bonds form between guanine and cytosine.

   Related Questions in Chemistry

  • Q : What are biodegradable polymers?

      These are polymers that can be broken into small segments by enzyme-catalysed reactions. The required enzymes are produced by microorganism. It is a known fact that the carbon-carbon bonds of chain growth polymers are inert to enzyme-catalysed reactions, and hence they are non biod

  • Q : Mole fraction and Molality Select the

    Select the right answer of the following question.What does not change on changing temperature : (a) Mole fraction (b) Normality (c) Molality (d) None of these

  • Q : IUPAC name of the benzene Write a short

    Write a short note on the IUPAC name of the benzene?

  • Q : Problem on endothermic or exothermic At

    At low temperatures, mixtures of water and methane can form a hydrate (i.e. a solid containing trapped methane). Hydrates are potentially a very large source of underground trapped methane in the pole regions but are a nuisance when they form in pipelines and block th

  • Q : Nuclear Magnetic Resonance The nuclear

    The nuclear states produced by a magnetic field are studied in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.The frequency of the radiation that corresponds to the nuclear magnetic energy level spacings and the weakness of the radiation absorption that must be e

  • Q : Problem on decinormal strength Can

    Can someone please help me in getting through this problem. How many grams of dibasic acid (having mol. wt. 200) must be present in 100ml  of its aqueous solution to provide decinormal strength: (i) 1g  (ii)2g  (iii) 10g  (iv) 20g<

  • Q : What is Spectroscopy? This is a very

    This is a very important aspect of Physical Chemistry in which knowledge of the size, shape, rigidity and electronic structure of molecules deduced from the experimental methods treated here goes hand in hand with the theoretical approaches of chemical reactions. Spec

  • Q : Problem on physical and thermodynamic

    The shells of marine organisms contain calcium carbonate CaCO3, largely in a crystalline form known as calcite. There is a second crystalline form of calcium carbonate known as aragonite. Physical and thermodynamic properties of calcite and aragonite at 298

  • Q : Describe Enzyme Catalyzed reactions

    Many enzyme catalyzed reactions obeys a complex rate equation that can be written as the total quantity of enzyme and the whole amount of substrate in the reaction system. Many rate equations that are more complex than first and se

  • Q : Molarity of solution Help me to go

    Help me to go through this problem. When 7.1gm Na2SO4 (molecular mass 142) dissolves in 100ml H2O , the molarity of the solution is: (a) 2.0 M (b) 1.0 M (c) 0.5 M (d) 0.05 M