List the similarities and differences in the secondary structure of a protein and the secondary structure of DNA.

Question

Accepted Answer

All right. Hello everyone. So this question is asking us which of the following incorrectly describes the similarities and differences between the secondary structures of proteins and DNA. So first and foremost, what is true about the secondary structures of proteins and DNA respectively? Well, recall that when it comes to the secondary structure of a protein, right, this could be described as local folding. And the reason why it's called local folding is because secondary structure is the result of hydrogen bonding between backbone Adams. In other words, secondary structure is formed from hydrogen bonding between the atoms that make up the peptide bond backbone. So let's compare this now to a nucleic acid now, because we're talking specifically about DNA secondary structure describes the formation of the double helix. So to summarize this again, this would be hydrogen bonding between the nitrogenous bases of opposite strands. So here let me actually change my label to DNA just to be specific to what the question is asking. And let's start by actually analyzing our answer options and deciding which ones are accurate and which one is inaccurate. Starting off with option A which says that both proteins and DNA form helical structures. This is true, right? Because recall that proteins, the main secondary structural elements of proteins are alpha helices and beta sheets. So that's one helix and DNA is characterized by the formation of the double helix structure. So eight is true. And on that note, option B says that proteins form alpha helo seeds and beta sheets while DNA forms a double helix, this is true. So we can move on now to option C which reads that hydrogen bonding stabilizes the secondary structures in both proteins and DNA. This is also correct, right? Because both secondary structures are stabilized by hydrogen bonding, whether it's between the atoms of a peptide bond backbone or by complementary nitrogenous spaces. This leads us now with option D which says that protein secondary structure is entirely determined by the sugar phosphate backbone like DNA. Now, this is the one that's not going to be correct, right? Because proteins don't have a sugar phosphate back milk rather they are held together by peptide bonds between adjacent amino acids. And so because D is the only statement that's not correct, that's going to be our answer to this question and there you have it. So with that being said, thank you so very much for watching and I hope you found this helpful.

List the similarities and differences in the secondary structure of a protein and the secondary structure of DNA.

Verified video answer for a similar problem:

Key Concepts

Secondary Structure of Proteins

Secondary Structure of DNA

Comparative Analysis