| A | B |
|---|
| Deoxyribonucleic Acid or DNA | Carries all of our genetic information; blueprint |
| Chromatin | Long tangled strands of DNA |
| Chromosomes | Coiled strands of DNA |
| Genes | Segments of DNA on a chromosome |
| Nucleotides | Building blocks of DNA and are composed of a 5-carbon sugar, phosphate group, and nitrogen base |
| Nitrogen Bases | Adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine |
| Structure of DNA | Double helix or spiral staircase |
| Adenine bonds with | Thymine |
| Guanine bonds with | Cytosine |
| Replication | DNA can copy itself and use this process fo cell division (mitosis) |
| Protein synthesis | assembly of proteins, which strings together amino acids |
| Ribonucleic acid or RNA | made up of 5-carbon sugar (ribose), phosphate, and nitrogen bases (Adenine, Uracil, Cytosine, and Guanine) |
| Uracil bonds with | Adenine in RNA |
| mRNA | messenger RNA; used in Transcription |
| tRNA | transfer RNA; used in Translation |
| Amino Acids | building blocks of proteins |
| Codon | "triplet" of N-bases |
| Anti-codon | "triplet" of N-bases that are complimentary to the codon |
| Transcription | Occurs in the nucleus of the cell, process by which a molecule of DNA is copied into a complimentary strand of RNA |
| Translation | Occurs in the ribosome in the cytoplasm of the cell and is a process in which a message carried by messenger RNA is decoded into a protein |
| DNA Synthesis | Replication of DNA involves a complex series of events that require a team of enzymes |
| DNA Polymerases | Enzymes that carry out DNA synthesis |
| Semi-Conservative Replication | The newly synthesized DNA molecule contains one new strand and one old strand |
| Replication Forks | Replication occurs simultaneously at many different sites |
| Leading Strand | Synthesis is continuous and towards the replication fork |
| Lagging strand | Synthesis occurs in the opposite direction away from the replication fork in short discontinuous segments |
| Okazaki fragments | short, discontinuous segments |
| DNA Ligase | Nucleotides are joined together by enzymes |
| Helicase | unwinds the DNA molecule |
