CIBI 3031 Terms to Know Instructor: Kristin Peterson

Chapter 13: Glossary of selected key terms (términos clave selectos)

adenine / adenina (A)

A purine; a nitrogen-containing base in certain nucleotides. Base pairs with thymine in DNA.

bacteriophage / bacteriófago

Category of viruses that infect bacterial cells.

cloning / clonación

Making a genetically identical copy of DNA or of an organism.

cytosine / citosina (C)

Pyrimidine; one of the nitrogen-containing bases in nucleotides.

deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) / ácido desoxirribonucleico (ADN)

Of cells and many viruses, the molecule of inheritance. H bonds join its two helically twisted nucleotide strands, one of which has instructions (in its base sequence) for synthesizing all of the enzymes and other proteins required to build and maintain cells.

DNA ligase / ADN ligasa

Enzyme that seals new base-pairings during DNA replication.

DNA polymerase / ADN polimerasa

Enzyme of replication and repair that assembles a new strand of DNA on a parent DNA template.

DNA repair / reparación del ADN

Enzyme-mediated process that fixes small-scale alterations in a DNA strand by restoring the original base sequence.

DNA replication / replicación del ADN

Any process by which a cell duplicates its DNA molecules before dividing.

guanine / guanina (G)

Nitrogen-containing base in one of four nucleotide monomers of DNA or RNA.

nucleotide / nucleótido

Small organic compound with deoxyribose (a five-carbon sugar), a nitrogenous base, and a phosphate group. Monomer for adenosine phosphates, nucleotide coenzymes, and nucleic acids.

thymine / timina (T)

A nitrogen-containing base; one of the nucleotides in DNA (not in RNA).

x-ray diffraction image / imagen obtenida por difracción de rayos X

Pattern that forms on film exposed to x-rays that have been directed at a molecule; reveals positions of atoms, not the molecular structure.