AP BIOLOGY

THE MOLECULAR BASIS OF INHERITANCE

STRUCTURE OF NUCLEIC ACIDS

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
The ‘backbone’ or ‘ribbon’ of the DNA strand is made of:
A
phosphate and sugar
B
phosphate only
C
phosphate and base
D
sugar and base
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -A phosphate backbone is the portion of the DNA double helix that provides structural support to the molecule. DNA consists of two strands that wind around each other like a twisted ladder. Each strand has a backbone made of alternating sugar (deoxyribose) and phosphate groups.

Detailed explanation-2: -The backbone of a DNA molecule consists of the phosphate groups and the deoxyribose sugars, whereas the base region of the DNA molecule consists of the nitrogenous bases; therefore, the backbone of DNA is made up of phosphate groups and pentose sugars. Adenine is part of the base region of the molecule.

Detailed explanation-3: -A sugar-phosphate backbone (alternating grey-dark grey) joins together nucleotides in a DNA sequence. The sugar-phosphate backbone forms the structural framework of nucleic acids, including DNA and RNA. This backbone is composed of alternating sugar and phosphate groups, and defines directionality of the molecule.

Detailed explanation-4: -DNA consists of a pair of chains of a sugar-phosphate backbone linked by pyrimidine and purine bases to form adouble helix (Fig. 96.1). The sugar in DNA is deoxyribose. The pyrimidines are cytosine (C) and thymine (T); the purines are guanine (G) and adenine (A).

Detailed explanation-5: -The backbone of the DNA is composed of deoxyribose sugar and a phosphate molecule. The four types of nitrogen bases present in a nucleotide are adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C). The order of these bases determines the DNA’s instructions or genetic code.

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