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Chapter 26: Q37P (page 1180)

Sodium nitrite, a common food preservative (page 906), is capable of causing mutations in an acidic environment by converting cytosines to uracils. Explain how this occurs.

Short Answer

Expert verified

There are four nitrogenous bases that compose DNA. The nitrogenous base is adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). Adenine is paired with thymine with two hydrogen bonding while the cytosine is paired with guanine with three hydrogen bonding

Step by step solution

01

Nitrogenous base in DNA

There are four nitrogenous bases that compose DNA. The nitrogenous base is adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). Adenine is paired with thymine with two hydrogen bonding while the cytosine is paired with guanine with three hydrogen bonding

02

Mutations in an acidic environment

In an acidic environment, nitrite ion is protonated to nitrous acid. We have seen that nitrosonium is formed from nitrous acid.

The nitrosonium ion reacts with a primary amino group to form a diazonium ion which can be displaced by water.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

If an mRNA contained only U and G in a random sequence, what amino acids would be present in the protein when the mRNA is translated?

Using the D, A, and D/A designations in Problem 3, indicate how base pairing would be affected if the bases existed in the enol form

Indicate whether each functional group of the five heterocyclic bases in nucleic acids is a hydrogen bond acceptor (A), a hydrogen bond donor (D), or both (D/A).

The amino acid sequences of peptide fragments obtained from a normal protein were compared with those obtained from the same protein synthesized by a defective gene. They were found to differ in only one peptide fragment. Their amino acid sequences are shown here:

Normal: Gln-Tyr-Gly-Thr-Arg-Tyr-Val

Mutant: Gln-Ser-Glu-Pro-Gly-Thr

a. What is the defect in DNA?

b. It was later determined that the normal peptide fragment is an octapeptide with a C-terminal Val-Leu. What is the C-terminal amino acid of the mutant peptide?

If one of the strands of DNA has the following sequence of bases running in the 5'-G-G-A-C-A-A-T-C-T-G-C-3'

a. what is the sequence of bases in the complementary strand?

b. what base is closest to the 5′-end in the complementary strand?
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