Nucleic Acids

Summary

In this podcast, Mr. Andersen explains the significance of nucleic acids, focusing on DNA and RNA. He describes their primary roles in protein synthesis and gene inheritance, detailing the structure of nucleotides and their components: phosphate groups, pentose sugars, and nitrogenous bases. He differentiates between DNA and RNA, highlighting their structural and functional differences. Additionally, he introduces 'Eterna,' a video game from Stanford University where players design RNA sequences that are synthesized and tested in real life. The podcast emphasizes the critical role of nucleic acids in biology and offers an engaging learning tool for enthusiasts.

Takeaways

• 🔬 DNA and RNA are crucial for protein synthesis.
• 📜 DNA contains the instructions for making proteins, which are executed by RNA.
• 👨‍👩‍👦 DNA is passed down through generations, with offspring receiving half of their DNA from each parent.
• 🌍 All known life on Earth contains DNA, linking all life forms back to a common ancestor.
• 🧬 DNA and RNA are composed of nucleotides, which consist of a phosphate group, a pentose sugar, and a nitrogenous base.
• 💧 Nucleotides are linked by covalent bonds in RNA, forming a single strand.
• 🧬 DNA nucleotides pair through hydrogen bonds: adenine with thymine, and guanine with cytosine.
• 🌀 DNA is a more stable structure than RNA, featuring a double helix formed by hydrogen bonds.
• 🔄 DNA's backbone is made up of alternating sugar and phosphate groups.
• 🎮 Eterna is a game where players build RNA sequences, with top designs synthesized and tested in real life.

Q & A

What is the primary function of DNA and RNA?

The primary function of DNA and RNA is to make proteins within the cell.

How do DNA and RNA contribute to the creation of proteins?

DNA contains the directions to make proteins, which are then shuttled out by RNA to the ribosome where proteins are made.

What role do nucleic acids play in genetics?

Nucleic acids make up our genes, which are passed on to the next generation.

What are nucleotides and what are they composed of?

Nucleotides are the building blocks of DNA and RNA, and they are composed of a phosphate group, a pentose sugar, and a nitrogenous base.

What is the difference between the pentose sugars in DNA and RNA?

The pentose sugar in DNA is deoxyribose, whereas in RNA it is ribose.

What are the four nitrogenous bases in DNA?

The four nitrogenous bases in DNA are adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine.

How do the nitrogenous bases differ between DNA and RNA?

DNA contains thymine, while RNA contains uracil in place of thymine.

What are purines and pyrimidines?

Purines are nitrogenous bases with two rings (adenine and guanine), while pyrimidines have one ring (cytosine, thymine, and uracil).

How do nucleotides bond to form RNA and DNA?

In RNA, nucleotides bond through covalent bonds between each one. In DNA, nucleotides bond through both covalent bonds (forming the backbone) and hydrogen bonds (connecting the nitrogenous bases).

What structural differences exist between DNA and RNA?

DNA is a double helix structure found in the nucleus, while RNA is a single helix and can be found throughout the cell.

Why is DNA considered more stable than RNA?

DNA is more stable due to its double helix structure and the hydrogen bonds between its nitrogenous bases.

What is the significance of the game 'Eterna' mentioned in the script?

'Eterna' is a video game centered at Stanford University that allows players to build sections of RNA. The winning designs are synthesized and tested in the real world.

Outlines

00:00

🔬 Introduction to Nucleic Acids

Mr. Andersen introduces the topic of nucleic acids, highlighting students' confusion about their function and composition. He emphasizes the primary roles of DNA and RNA in protein synthesis and genetic inheritance, explaining that DNA contains the instructions for making proteins, which are then shuttled by RNA to the ribosome for assembly. He also mentions the universal presence of DNA in life forms and the connection through a common ancestor.

05:03

🧬 Composition of Nucleotides

The structure of nucleotides is detailed, explaining that each nucleotide consists of a phosphate group, a pentose sugar, and a nitrogenous base. He describes the importance of phosphates in biology, the difference between deoxyribose in DNA and ribose in RNA, and the unique nitrogenous bases (adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine in DNA, and uracil in RNA). The nucleotides are categorized into purines (adenine and guanine) and pyrimidines (cytosine, thymine, and uracil), with emphasis on their bonding mechanisms.

🧩 Bonding and Structure of DNA and RNA

Different bonding methods in nucleotides are discussed, including covalent bonds in RNA and hydrogen bonds in DNA, which allow for the double-helix structure. The importance of hydrogen bonds in the stability of DNA and the role of covalent bonds in the backbone structure of DNA and RNA are emphasized. Differences between DNA and RNA, such as uracil replacing thymine in RNA, DNA's double helix versus RNA's single helix, and their locations within the cell, are highlighted.

🎮 RNA and Educational Gaming

Mr. Andersen introduces 'Eterna,' a video game developed at Stanford University, where players design RNA sequences. The game educates players on RNA structure by allowing them to build RNA sections and compete for the chance to have their designs synthesized and tested. He walks through the initial tutorial of the game, explaining the basics of RNA bases and pairing rules, encouraging those interested in RNA and biochemistry to try the game.

Keywords

💡Nucleic Acids

Nucleic acids are the primary molecules of life, including DNA and RNA. They are responsible for storing and transmitting genetic information. In the video, Mr. Andersen explains that nucleic acids are crucial for making proteins, which are the building blocks of our bodies. DNA contains the instructions for making proteins, while RNA plays a role in translating these instructions into actual protein synthesis.

💡Proteins

Proteins are large molecules composed of amino acids and are essential for the structure, function, and regulation of the body's tissues and organs. In the script, proteins are described as the end product of the genetic information encoded in DNA and RNA. They are what make up our physical form, and the video emphasizes that the instructions for making proteins are found in DNA.

💡DNA

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule that carries most of the genetic instructions used in the development, functioning, and reproduction of all known living organisms. The video script mentions that DNA contains the 'directions' for making proteins and is passed down from generation to generation, connecting all life through a common ancestor.

💡RNA

RNA, or ribonucleic acid, is a molecule similar to DNA and plays a crucial role in protein synthesis. In the video, RNA is described as a 'worker' that helps in making proteins inside the ribosome. It is also noted that RNA differs from DNA in having uracil instead of thymine.

💡Nucleotides

Nucleotides are the building blocks of nucleic acids. Each nucleotide consists of a phosphate group, a pentosugar, and a nitrogenous base. The video script explains that nucleotides are the fundamental units that make up both DNA and RNA, and they vary in their nitrogenous bases, which are adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine (in DNA), and uracil (in RNA).

💡Phosphate Group

A phosphate group is a chemical group found in many biological molecules, including nucleic acids and ATP. In the video, the phosphate group is described as a key component of nucleotides, playing a central role in the structure of DNA and RNA. It is also mentioned in the context of phospholipids in cell membranes and ATP, the energy currency of the cell.

💡Pentosugar

Pentosugar refers to a five-carbon sugar, which is a component of nucleotides. In DNA, this is deoxyribose, and in RNA, it is ribose. The video script explains that the type of pentosugar differentiates DNA from RNA, with DNA having deoxyribose and RNA having ribose.

💡Nitrogenous Base

Nitrogenous bases are part of nucleotides and are responsible for the unique properties of DNA and RNA. They contain nitrogen and are crucial for the specific pairing of nucleotides in DNA and RNA. The video script mentions adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine (in DNA), and uracil (in RNA) as examples of nitrogenous bases.

💡Purines and Pyrimidines

Purines and pyrimidines are two types of nitrogenous bases found in nucleic acids. Purines, which include adenine and guanine, have a double-ring structure, while pyrimidines, which include cytosine, thymine, and uracil, have a single-ring structure. The video script uses these terms to explain the structural differences between the bases and their role in base pairing in DNA.

💡Hydrogen Bonds

Hydrogen bonds are a type of chemical bond that plays a critical role in the structure of DNA. In the video, hydrogen bonds are described as the connections between the nitrogenous bases in DNA, allowing the two strands of the DNA double helix to bind together. Adenine pairs with thymine, and guanine pairs with cytosine through these hydrogen bonds.

💡Eterna

Eterna is a video game mentioned in the script that allows players to design RNA molecules. The game is used as an educational tool to engage people in understanding RNA and its role in biology. The video script describes how players can compete to create RNA sequences, which are then synthesized and tested in real life, demonstrating the practical application of theoretical knowledge.

Highlights

Nucleic acids, DNA and RNA, are primarily responsible for protein synthesis in cells.

Proteins are the physical manifestation of the genetic information encoded in DNA.

RNA acts as a messenger, transferring the information from DNA to the ribosomes for protein production.

Nucleic acids also constitute our genes, which are passed down to the next generation.

All life forms on Earth have DNA, indicating a universal common ancestor.

Nucleotides are the building blocks of both DNA and RNA, consisting of a phosphate group, a pentosugar, and a nitrogenous base.

DNA contains the nitrogenous bases adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine.

RNA differs from DNA by having uracil instead of thymine.

Nucleotides are categorized into purines (adenine and guanine) and pyrimidines (cytosine, thymine, and uracil) based on their structure.

DNA forms a double helix structure, while RNA is single-stranded.

The backbone of DNA is composed of alternating sugar and phosphate groups.

Hydrogen bonds between nitrogenous bases are crucial for the structure and function of DNA.

Adenine pairs with thymine, and guanine pairs with cytosine in DNA through specific hydrogen bonding.

RNA is found in various parts of the cell where it is needed, unlike DNA which is primarily located in the nucleus.

The process from DNA to proteins involves transcription and translation, which can be further explored in a linked video.

Eterna is a video game that allows players to design RNA sequences, which are then synthesized and tested in real life.

Players of Eterna compete to create functional RNA sections, contributing to scientific research.

The game Eterna provides an interactive way to understand and engage with RNA biology.

Transcripts

Hi. It's Mr. Andersen and in this podcast I'm going to talk about nucleic

acids. When I talk to students about nucleic acids, they're confused. They don't know what

they do and they don't usually know what they're made up of. They do know that they're DNA

and RNA but let's start with what they do. And so the biggest job the DNA and RNA have

is making the proteins. The proteins inside the cell. And so when you look at me, you're

looking at the proteins, but where are the directions to make those proteins? Those are

found in the DNA. And how do they get to the proteins? Well they're shuttled out by RNA.

And RNA is more of a worker that's making these proteins inside the ribosome. And so

the first job they have is making proteins. What's the second thing they do? Well they

make up our genes. And so that's what we pass on to the next generation. And so this is

my son. He contains half of the DNA that I do. So I gave him a random half of my DNA.

And my wife did the same. So he's a combination of me and my wife. And life has just passed

DNA down generation after generation after generation. We've never found life on our

planet that doesn't have DNA. That means that we're all connected through this single thread

back to that first universal common ancestor. But what are they made up of? Those are nucleotides.

And so these are the building blocks of DNA and the building blocks of RNA. So let's look

specifically at one. So this is one nucleotide right here. A nucleotide is made up of three

parts. We've got a phosphate group, that's going to be pictured right here. It's a phosphorus

in the middle and then oxygen around the outside. Phosphate groups are really famous in biology.

So they're the phosphates that are found in phospholipids that make the cell membranes

of all life. And it's the same phosphate that we're going to find in ATP, adenosine triphosphate.

It's the energy source. And in fact the adenosine triphosphate is exactly the same adenosine

triphosphate that we add to make DNA. We'll get to that in just a second. What else do

we have? Well, we have a pentosugar. Pentosugar means we have a five carbon sugar. In DNA

that's going to be a deoxyribo sugar and then in RNA it's going to be a ribosugar. And then

the most interesting part of a nucleotide is going to be the nitrogenous base. And it's

called a nitrogenous base because it has nitrogen. And so most things in life are made up of

carbon but there's going to be a lot of nitrogen here in the base of this nucleotide. And this

is going to be different in each nucleotide. And so let's take a look at the nucleotides

found in DNA. And so basically you have adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine. And so we have

four different bases and therefore we have four different nucleotides. And you can just

see looking at them the size is going to be a little different on all four of these. In

RNA they don't have thymine, you might notice. But they have uracil. It's going to look a

lot like thymine but it's not going to be thymine. If we were to now look at all of

those nucleotides together, so A, C, G, and T. And that's where the names come from. In

DNA we're talking about these nitrogenous bases or these nucleotides. Now we've got

uracil. Basically if we put them in order by their size we've got two major groups.

We have these ones that have two rings and we call these purines. So this is adenine

and this is going to be guanine. And then we have the pyrimidines and there just going

to have one ring. So cytosine, thymine and uracil are all going to have one ring. So

they're going to be smaller. And that'll become really important when we start bonding them

together. So let's talk about bonding. How do you connect them together? Well when we

talked about carbohydrates there's really only one way to connect carbohydrates. Or

when we talk about amino acids, there's really only one way to connect them, but especially

when we get to DNA you can connect nucleotides in two ways. So let's start with way one.

Way one, we could put this one right underneath it so we've got an adenine and a guanine and

then through a dehydration reaction we could lose a H2O right here and we could form a

covalent bond between two nucleotides. And so if we were to add another one, we would

add another nucleotide here, we'd lose a water and we're going to make another covalent bond.

And so we can attach them together like that. And so that's what RNA is. RNA is a number

of nucleotides simply in a row and they're connected with covalent bonds between each

one. There's another way however when we get to DNA that we can bond them. And so let's

say we have these two nucleotides, adenine and guanine, how could I attach this thymine

right here? Well basically I can turn it upside down and it's going to form hydrogen bonds

here between the adenine and thymine. And you've probably heard this before that adenine

will always bond to thymine and guanine will always bond to cytosine. And that's why. There's

going to be interactions between the oxygen, nitrogen and the hydrogen and make these hydrogen

bonds that are connected with the two. And so when you're looking at DNA, let's kind

of switch to this next slide. When you're looking at DNA, that's what's being connected

right here in the middle. So that's going to be the hydrogen bonds between the nitrogenous

bases on either side. And so why do we have DNA? Well we think life started with RNA because

it contains a message, but overtime we kind of had two RNAs wrap around each other and

we eventually had DNA. There's more to it that that, but DNA is going to be a more stable

structure. We're going to have those hydrogen bonds here and then we're going to have covalent

bonds between different backbones of the DNA as well. And so what are the backbone of DNA

really made up of? It's just a sugar attached to phosphate to a sugar to a phosphate to

a sugar. And so what are some differences between DNA on the right and RNA on the left?

Well the first one would be the uracil versus the thymine. So that's going to be a different

nitrogenous base. DNA is going to be a double helix and RNA is going to be a single helix.

And then in life DNA is going to be found in the nucleus and RNA is going to be found

pretty much everywhere that we need it. So if you're confused on how we go from DNA to

proteins, or if you're really interested in the whole secret of life I'll put a little

link to a video I made that kind of talks you through how we go from DNA to proteins.

But the last thing I wanted to leave you with is how important they are. If you're interested

in RNA and if you're interested in science and video games, then you may want to check

this out. This is eterna. Eterna is a video game. I think it's centered at Stanford University

and basically what they're doing is they're letting people on the internet build sections

of RNA. And so basically you build sections of RNA. They have competitions each week and

basically the winners each week, they will make your RNA. So they'll actually synthesize

and make your section of RNA and then they'll see how it does. And so I'm going to launch

the video game and talk you through the first level. And if you're interested in RNA or

making things real in biochemistry you may want to give this a shot. So here's level

one. Basically it's a tutorial so I can click on next and it will talk me through what I'm

going to do. So you're going to build your own RNA. Let me click on the next one. The

RNA is made up of four bases. Hopefully you know what that means now. Yellow base is adenine.

Guanine, uracil and cytosine. And so as a warm up drill let's convert all the bases

to guanine. So let me click here to start. So basically what you can do is go down here.

I'm going to get my mutate and I'm going to mutate this to guanine. I love the music in

here or the little sounds effects. Nice. So I cleared level 1. And then you can go to

the next puzzle and we can just, going through, and so basically on this one what you can

do is they will attract each other. So for example they're going to say that adenine

and uracil are going to come together and that guanine and cytosine are going to come

together. And so basically what you do is you get to play around with pairing these.

And so I'm going to stop playing the video game in front of you, but give it a look.

It's a really cool idea. People competing to make RNA and then they're actually building

it in the real world. And so that's nucleic acid. It's incredibly important and I hope

that's helpful.