Which of the following is NOT a major purine or pyrimidine base found in DNA and RNA?

Correct answer: Hypoxanthine

Explanation

This question tests the ability to distinguish between the five major nitrogenous bases (A, G, C, T, U) and the minor bases that can also be found in nucleic acids, such as hypoxanthine.

Other questions

Question 1

What are the three characteristic components of a nucleotide?

Question 2

What is a molecule without a phosphate group, consisting of a nitrogenous base and a pentose, called?

Question 3

In pyrimidines and purines, how are the carbon and nitrogen atoms conventionally numbered?

Question 4

What is the key difference that defines a nucleic acid as DNA versus RNA?

Question 5

How are successive nucleotides in both DNA and RNA covalently linked?

Question 6

According to the Watson-Crick model, how many base pairs are there per helical turn in B-form DNA in aqueous solution?

Question 7

What are the two primary forces that hold the DNA double helix together?

Question 8

What is the structural characteristic of A-form DNA compared to B-form DNA?

Question 9

What is a common feature of DNA sequences that can form hairpin or cruciform structures?

Question 10

What is the term for the phenomenon where the absorption of UV light by a double-stranded nucleic acid increases upon denaturation?

Question 11

What is the most important source of mutagenic alterations in DNA under normal physiological conditions?

Question 12

What is the primary role of ATP in cellular metabolism?

Question 14

What is the molar extinction coefficient at 260 nm for GMP at pH 7.0?

Question 15

What is the term for a short nucleic acid polymer containing 50 or fewer nucleotides?

Question 16

The chemical synthesis of DNA via the phosphoramidite method proceeds in which direction?

Question 17

What is the consequence of the slow deamination of cytosine to uracil in DNA?

Question 18

Which of the following enzymes uses S-adenosylmethionine as a methyl group donor for DNA methylation?

Question 19

What is the approximate distance between vertically stacked bases inside the B-form DNA double helix?

Question 20

Which of the following is a regulatory nucleotide that is produced in bacteria in response to amino acid starvation?

Question 21

What is the consequence of forming a cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer in a DNA strand, as induced by UV light?

Question 22

Which enzyme is responsible for linking a DNA fragment to a cloning vector?

Question 23

In the Sanger dideoxy sequencing method, what is the role of a dideoxynucleoside triphosphate (ddNTP)?

Question 24

Which of the following enzyme cofactors contains an adenosine moiety but does not participate directly in the cofactor's primary function?

Question 25

What is the structural basis for Chargaff's rule that in any cellular DNA, the number of adenosine residues equals the number of thymidine residues (A = T)?

Question 26

What type of RNA serves as an adapter molecule that translates the information in mRNA into a specific sequence of amino acids?

Question 27

Which of the following is the most common form of DNA found under physiological conditions?

Question 28

In a sample of DNA from an unknown bacterium, adenine makes up 32 percent of the total bases. What is the percentage of guanine?

Question 29

What is the primary role of the enzyme reverse transcriptase in biotechnology applications like RT-PCR?

Question 30

In Z-form DNA, what conformation do the purine residues typically adopt?

Question 31

Why are the carbon numbers of the pentose ring in a nucleotide given a prime (') designation?

Question 32

What is the typical result of RNA hydrolysis under alkaline conditions?

Question 33

What type of damage does ionizing radiation such as x-rays and gamma rays typically cause to DNA?

Question 34

What is the biological function of the Dam methylase in E. coli?

Question 35

Which of the following is NOT a component of coenzyme A (CoA)?

Question 36

What type of chemical bond links the base to the pentose in a nucleotide?

Question 37

What are the common pyrimidine bases found in RNA?

Question 38

The G tetraplex structure is formed most readily by DNA sequences with a very high proportion of which residue?

Question 39

What is the effect of base-stacking interactions on the stability of the DNA double helix?

Question 40

Which chemical agent is commonly used to cause selective removal of purine bases from DNA, resulting in an apurinic acid?

Question 41

What is the primary function of messenger RNA (mRNA)?

Question 42

What does a melting point (tm) of a DNA molecule, determined under fixed pH and ionic strength, allow one to estimate?

Question 43

How many hydrogen bonds are formed between a guanine (G) and cytosine (C) base pair?

Question 44

What is the typical conformation of a paired, double-stranded RNA helix?

Question 45

In DNA, the two polynucleotide chains are oriented in which direction relative to each other?

Question 46

What type of damage is typically caused by exposing DNA to near-UV radiation?

Question 47

In the Sanger sequencing method, fragments are separated by electrophoresis based on what property?

Question 48

What is the role of a primer in the DNA sequencing reaction catalyzed by DNA polymerase?

Question 49

What is the primary characteristic of the backbone of both DNA and RNA?

Question 50

What are the structural units of DNA called when they are in their free form, such as dAMP?