Fill in the following table with the analogous nucleic acid structures:

Question

Accepted Answer

All right. Hello everyone. So this question says which of the following incorrectly describes the similarities between the structural levels of nucleic acid and proteins. And here we have four different answer choices labeled A through D which we'll discuss individually later on. But for now, let's just recall the levels of structure associated with both proteins and nucleic acids starting off with the primary structure. Now, primary structure is present in both. When talking about proteins. It refers to the sequence of amino acids that make up the polypeptide. Whereas in nucleic acids, we're referring to the sequence of nucleotides moving on now to secondary structure or actually let me move this table more to the center here. So as I was saying, right, moving on to the second secondary structure, the secondary structure of a protein can be summarized as local folding. And the reason why it's described as local folding is because it refers to hydrogen bonds taking place between the atoms of the peptide bond backbone. On the other hand, when talking about nucleic acids, secondary structure describes h bonding or hydrogen bonding between bases in nucleic acid strengths moving on now to tertiary structure. When talking about proteins. Tertiary structure refers to intermolecular forces between oops between amino acid side chains. When talking about nucleic acids, tertiary structure describes these super coiling of nucleic acids or super coiling of DNA into very tight compacted structures like chromosomes, for example. And so moving on now to the ordinary structure, this is where we encounter our main difference because proteins, some proteins not all have ordinary structure but nucleic acids do not have ordinary structure. So in proteins that have ordinary structure, ordinary structure refers to the arrangement of multiple sub units to create the larger functional protein complex. So only proteins that have multiple subunits, multiple different polypeptides will have ordinary structure. And so now that we have this little summary, let's go back to our answer options starting with option A which reads that both nucleic acids and proteins have primary structures determined by the sequence of their monomers. Now recall it for this question. We're looking for the statement that's not true. And because this statement is true, it's not the correct answer in this case because amino acids and nucleotides are the monomers of proteins and nucleic acids respectively. Primary structure describes the sequence of each of their monomers. Moving on. Now to option B, it says that both nucleic acids and proteins can form secondary structures stabilized by hydrogen bonds. This is correct and because it's correct, it's not going to be our answer for this question. So both proteins and nucleic acids have secondary structures held together by a hydrogen bonnet. Option C says that tertiary structures in both nucleic acids and proteins involve complex folding driven by interactions between distant residues or bases. This is also correct and because it's correct, we can eliminate it right. Tertiary structure involves either the protein or nucleic acid folding into a complex three dimensional shape. And this is done or this is driven rather by interactions between parts of the molecule that are farther apart. Last but not least it says or option D says that quaternary structure is a feature of both nucleic acids and proteins. Option D is not correct, which means that it is going to be our answer for this question, right? Because as mentioned before, some proteins have ordinary structure but ordinary structure is not observed in nucleic acids. So we can't say that it's present in both. So there you have it. And with that being said, thank you so very much for watching. And I hope you found this helpful.

Fill in the following table with the analogous nucleic acid structures:

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Key Concepts

Nucleic Acids

Base Pairing

Nucleotide Structure