Name_______________________________ Class_______ Date_____

DNA and RNA Worksheet

Write true if the statement is true or false if the statement is false.

______ 1. Proteins give organisms their traits.

______ 2. The function of proteins is determined by their structure.

______ 3. Avery proved conclusively that DNA is the genetic material.

______ 4. The backbone of DNA consists of base pairs.

______ 5. DNA base sequences are often used to solve crimes.

______ 6. DNA replication begins when polymerase breaks hydrogen bonds in DNA.

______ 7. In DNA, the complement of ATC is TAG.

______ 8. In RNA, guanine always bonds with uracil.

______ 9. RNA is found only in the cytoplasm of the cell.

______ 10. RNA molecules are smaller than DNA molecules.

______ 11. Messenger RNA carries instructions to the ribosome.

______ 12. Ribosomal RNA brings amino acids to the ribosome.

Read this passage from the lesson and answer the questions that follow.

The Double Helix

In the early 1950s, Rosalind Franklin started working on understanding the structure of DNA fibers. Franklin,
together with Maurice Wilkins, used her expertise in x-ray diffraction photographic techniques to analyze the
structure of DNA. In February 1953, Francis Crick and James D. Watson of the Cavendish Laboratory in
Cambridge University had started to build a model of DNA. Watson and Crick indirectly obtained Franklin's
DNA X-ray diffraction data demonstrating crucial information into the DNA structure. Francis Crick and James
Watson then published their double helical model of DNA in Nature on April 25th, 1953.

DNA has the shape of a double helix, just like a spiral staircase. There are two sides, called the sugar-
phosphate backbone, because they are made from alternating phosphate groups and deoxyribose sugars. The
“steps” of the double helix are made from the base pairs formed between the nitrogenous bases. The DNA
double helix is held together by hydrogen bonds between the bases attached to the two strands.

The double helical nature of DNA, together with the findings of Chargaff, demonstrated the base-pairing
nature of the bases. Adenine always pairs with thymine, and guanine always pairs with cytosine. Because of
this complementary nature of DNA, the bases on one strand determine the bases on the other strand. These
complementary base pairs explain why the amounts of guanine and cytosine are present in equal amounts, as
are the amounts of adenine and thymine. Adenine and guanine are known as purines. These bases consist of
two ring structures. Purines make up one of the two groups of nitrogenous bases. Thymine and cytosine are
pyrimidines, which have just one ring structure. By having a purine always combine with a pyrimidine in the
DNA double helix, the distance between the two sugar-phosphate backbones is constant, maintaining the
uniform shape of the DNA molecule.

So it is this four letter code, made of just A, C, G, and T, that determines what the organism will become and
what it will look like. How can these four bases carry so much information? This information results from the
order of these four bases in the chromosomes. This sequence carries the unique genetic information for each
species and each individual. Humans have about 3,000,000,000 bits of this information in each cell. A gorilla
may also have close to that amount of information, but a slightly different sequence. For example, the
sequence AGGTTTACCA will have different information than CAAGGGATTA. The closer the evolutionary
relationship is between two species, the more similar their DNA sequences will be. For example, the DNA
sequences between two species of reptiles will be more similar than between a reptile and an elm tree.

Questions

1. The discovery of the structure of DNA was due to the work of many different scientists during the first half
of the 1900s. Which two scientists first published the double-helical model of DNA? When did they publish it?

2. Explain why DNA is like a spiral staircase.

3. What holds together the complementary strands of a DNA molecule?

4. List the complementary base pairs of DNA.

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5. How can the four bases of DNA carry all the genetic information of an organism?

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Circle the letter of the correct choice.
1) The structure of proteins is determined by the order and type of their
a) nitrogen bases.
b) pyrimidines.
c) amino acids.
d) nucleotides.

2) The central dogma of molecular biology is best represented by

a) DNA + RNA = Protein.
b) DNA → RNA + Protein.
c) DNA → RNA → Protein.
d) Protein → RNA → DNA.

3) What makes up the “steps” of the DNA spiral staircase?

a) sugars
b) phosphates
c) sugars and phosphates
d) nitrogenous base pairs

4) Pyrimidines include
a) uracil.
b) thymine.
c) cytosine.
d) all of the above.

5) During DNA replication, the two new strands of DNA are built
a) in opposite directions.
b) in the cell cytoplasm.
c) from amino acids.
d) at a ribosome.

6) When a protein is made in a cell, the instructions for the protein are first copied from DNA to
a) rRNA.
b) tRNA.
c) mRNA.
d) none of the above.

7) Most RNA codons code for a(n)

a) protein.
b) ribosome.
c) nucleotide.
d) amino acid.
Match the vocabulary term with the correct definition.
Term
____ 1. anticodon

____ 2. codon

____ 3. DNA

____ 4. gene

____ 5. nucleotide

____ 6. purine

____ 7. pyrimidine

____ 8. ribosome

____ 9. RNA

____ 10. transformation

Definition

a. monomer of all nucleic acids

b. double-stranded nucleic acid

c. thymine or cytosine

d. site of protein synthesis

e. three-base code word in tRNA

f. single-stranded nucleic acid

g. segment of DNA that codes for a protein

h. genetic change due to assimilation of external DNA

i. adenine or guanine

j. three-base code word in mRNA