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VCE Stuff => VCE Science => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Chemistry => Topic started by: olly_s15 on June 03, 2010, 10:31:53 pm

Title: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: olly_s15 on June 03, 2010, 10:31:53 pm
What bonds contribute to each of these structures?

In different trial paper solutions, i tend to come across different information regarding this..

Lets discuss.
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: naved_s9994 on June 03, 2010, 10:34:18 pm
Read Heinemann textbook, Pg 207-208.
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: olly_s15 on June 03, 2010, 10:36:51 pm
Read Heinemann textbook, Pg 207-208.

wow thanks you were so much help

*sarcasm
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: naved_s9994 on June 03, 2010, 10:39:08 pm
Read Heinemann textbook, Pg 207-208.

wow thanks you were so much help

*sarcasm

Well, as you said you read in different exams, different answers.
I refer you too that, to gain a clear understanding.
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: vexx on June 03, 2010, 10:39:46 pm
i have yet to go over DNA (and proteins yet), but pretty sure:

primary; covalent bonding between nucleotides, and connecting the phosphate and sugar, and the sugar to the nitrogenous base.

secondary; hydrogen bonds between nucleotide groups (3 between GC and 2 between AT)

tertiary; not sure what type of bond this is, since its to do with negative and positive charge of the DNA chain and histones.
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: happyhappyland on June 03, 2010, 10:40:00 pm
Remember primary is covalent bonds... heinemann only briefly talks about that while it rambles on about some other crap
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: superflya on June 03, 2010, 10:40:36 pm
primary: sequence of nitrogen bases.

secondary: H-bonds between nitrogen bases which form the double helix structure.

tertiary: overall 3-D structure, results from ionic bonding between the -ve phosphate group and +ve histones i.e the supercoiling.
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: JJ3024 on June 03, 2010, 10:40:54 pm
i only know of hydrogen bond tho...are there any other bonds present???
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: olly_s15 on June 03, 2010, 10:41:13 pm
Read Heinemann textbook, Pg 207-208.

wow thanks you were so much help

*sarcasm

Well, as you said you read in different exams, different answers.
I refer you too that, to gain a clear understanding.

well thanks for referring me too that
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: cindyy on June 03, 2010, 10:42:08 pm
Read Heinemann textbook, Pg 207-208.

wow thanks you were so much help

*sarcasm

lol! haha

primary structure have covalent bonds
secondary structure have hydrogen bonds between A-T and C-G
not sure about tertiary :S
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: happyhappyland on June 03, 2010, 10:45:58 pm
Read Heinemann textbook, Pg 207-208.

wow thanks you were so much help

*sarcasm

lol! haha

primary structure have covalent bonds
secondary structure have hydrogen bonds between A-T and C-G
not sure about tertiary :S

DNA is negatively charged, they wrap around positively charged histones to form a tight chromosome
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: cindyy on June 03, 2010, 10:47:25 pm
histones? are we supposed to know about them in a lot of detail?
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: olly_s15 on June 03, 2010, 10:50:12 pm
histones? are we supposed to know about them in a lot of detail?

no, no great deal of detail

just that they are positively charged and the dna fragments are negatively charged and coil around them tightly due to ionic interactions
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: cindyy on June 03, 2010, 10:55:50 pm
histones? are we supposed to know about them in a lot of detail?

no, no great deal of detail

just that they are positively charged and the dna fragments are negatively charged and coil around them tightly due to ionic interactions

cool! thats good
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: stonecold on June 03, 2010, 11:32:45 pm
As superflya says, isn't primary structure the ordering of nitrogenous bases?
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: olly_s15 on June 03, 2010, 11:33:52 pm
As superflya says, isn't primary structure the ordering of nitrogenous bases?

I believe so. And this ordering is enabled due to covalent bonds.
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: shinny on June 03, 2010, 11:34:58 pm
I wasn't aware there's a 'formalised' primary/secondary/tertiary system for DNA as there is for proteins, so I don't think you should get too hung up on the terminology. It's more important to just know the different sorts of bonds at each level.
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: olly_s15 on June 03, 2010, 11:36:54 pm
I wasn't aware there's a 'formalised' primary/secondary/tertiary system for DNA as there is for proteins, so I don't think you should get too hung up on the terminology. It's more important to just know the different sorts of bonds at each level.

which is essentially why i started this thread :)
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: stonecold on June 03, 2010, 11:37:15 pm
Okay, maybe just say:

The order of nitrogenous bases covelently bonded onto the deoxyribose molecules along the sugar phosphate backbone. :P

Edit: Thought it could sound a little nicer...
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: olly_s15 on June 03, 2010, 11:42:44 pm
Okay, maybe just say:

The order of nitrogenous bases covelently bonded onto the deoxyrobse sugar groups. :P

sounds good to me.

to further conclude:

the secondary structure involves hydrogen bonding interactions between complementary nitrogenous base pairs

anddd...

tertiary structure refers to the ionic interactions between the negatively charged DNA fragments (caused by the phosphate groups) and positively charged proteins called histones, to result in a tightly packed coil
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: stonecold on June 03, 2010, 11:43:39 pm
yeah, just for secondary, i would probably throw in 'double helix' to be extra consise. :P
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: olly_s15 on June 03, 2010, 11:46:03 pm
yeah, just for secondary, i would probably throw in 'double helix' to be extra consise. :P

excellent

feeling confident stonecold?
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: stonecold on June 03, 2010, 11:54:29 pm
^ I dunno.  Some days I am switched on, and I do quite well.  Other days, mistakes and clouded thinking destroy me.  My best prac exam paper was NEAP 09, where I lost just the 1 mark.  On another 5 or so exams I've lost roughly 3-4 marks.  But then I have done really poorly on a few, getting low 80%'s.

I shouldn't have done VCAA 2009 when I did it (late at night), and when I hadn't fully revised instrumentation (particularly AAS calculations), and practically screwed up that bit, and then one or two calculating mistakes on top of that cost me dearly...

Waste of an exam.  I feel that I am much better than what I got on that paper.  I'm doing VCAA 08 in the coming days, hoping to smash it haha...

How do you think you're doing...?
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: olly_s15 on June 04, 2010, 12:04:25 am
Similar to you - cloudy at times but becoming more confident.

Best scores have been 96-97% with lowest at around the 80 mark.

Saturday and Sunday will be crucial study wise..
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: Slumdawg on June 04, 2010, 08:38:36 am
Hey this is a good topic. I've noticed they change it heaps too. Like some say covalent bonding in primary and others say peptide. What do you guys reckon would be best to say if the question came up? Also with tertiary I have written down, hydrogen, ionic, disulfide bridges, dipole-dipole... Once again, which would you guys put down.. Thanks.
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: Martoman on June 04, 2010, 12:57:01 pm
Hey this is a good topic. I've noticed they change it heaps too. Like some say covalent bonding in primary and others say peptide. What do you guys reckon would be best to say if the question came up? Also with tertiary I have written down, hydrogen, ionic, disulfide bridges, dipole-dipole... Once again, which would you guys put down.. Thanks.

Buzz words.

Proteins primary: Covalent, peptide links, amino acids.

Secondary: Hydrogen bonding of the C (double bond) O and the N-H, coiling, pleating.

Tertiary: Overall 3d shape, determines activity (in case of enzymes), disulfide links make it harder to denature coz its strong covalent bonding, ionic attractions, hydrogen bonding, dispersion forces.

Note: Heat and changes in pH can denature a protein to its primary structure. This is because the bonds responsible for the tertiary structure are broken when heated or pH changes. As the tertiary structure is responsible for biological activity (such a active sites on enzymes) this makes sense.

A good question is to ask: which part of a protein (taken from the small intestine) is affected when it is heated with a strong acid?

A) Primary
B) Secondary
C) Tertiary
D) all of the above.


DNA -> Primary: ORDER of nitrogen bases as they are covalently bonded to the deoxy's. IT IS NOT involved in peptide links

Secondary -> Double helix, hydrogen bonding CG = 3, AT = 2, nitrogen bases ordered complementary.

Tertiary -> bonded with histones which have a +ve charge, DNA = -ve charge, SUPERCOILING.

Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: stonecold on June 04, 2010, 01:03:11 pm
I'll say B secondary, because that would cause protonation/deprotonation, which would lead to broken H-bonds.

Unless the acid can hydrolyse the amide bonds, which I then guess would make the answer D.
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: Martoman on June 04, 2010, 01:06:19 pm
Yeah it goes the full monty D. :)

I thought this particularly nasty *witch cackle*
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: kate26 on June 04, 2010, 03:10:05 pm
primary structure : sequence of nucleotides i.e one strand of DNA. Covalent bonds form between the phosphate group of one nucleotide and the deoxyribose sugar of another nucleotide. Forming a chain of nucleotides is a condensation reaction (condensation polymerisation)

secondary structure : double helix - hydrogen bonding occurs between nitrogenous bases (C and G is 3 bonds, A and T is 2 bonds)

tertiary structure : supercoiling around histones*

*not sure if you need to know anything about histones but they are proteins that contain high proportions of lysine and arginine, and the variable groups of these amino acids are positively charged at the pH of human cells.
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: Studyinghard on June 04, 2010, 03:15:01 pm
Tertiary structure can be anything. ionic bonding, disulfide links, hydrogen bonding, dispersion forces.
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: kate26 on June 04, 2010, 03:23:46 pm
Tertiary structure can be anything. ionic bonding, disulfide links, hydrogen bonding, dispersion forces.

this is for protein structure not DNA
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: Martoman on June 04, 2010, 03:29:54 pm
katy speaks the truth. You can't form disulfide links in DNA.
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: superflya on June 04, 2010, 09:17:43 pm
katy speaks the truth. You can't form disulfide links in DNA.

You're not wrong.

second that.
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: cindyy on June 04, 2010, 09:21:14 pm
katy speaks the truth. You can't form disulfide links in DNA.

You're not wrong.

second that.

third that
Title: Re: primary, secondary & tertiary structure of DNA
Post by: happyhappyland on June 04, 2010, 09:43:11 pm
katy speaks the truth. You can't form disulfide links in DNA.

You're not wrong.

second that.

third that

fourth that.

+5...