2.6 - ibbriner

2.6 - Structure of DNA and RNA

DCS Topic Code	Statement	Guidance
2.6.U1	The nucleic acids DNA and RNA are polymers of nucleotides.
2.6.U2	DNA differs from RNA in the number of strands present, the base composition and the type of pentose.
2.6.U3	DNA is a double helix made of two antiparallel strands of nucleotides linked by hydrogen bonding between complementary base pairs.
2.6.A1	Crick and Watson’s elucidation of the structure of DNA using model making.
2.6.S1	Drawing simple diagrams of the structure of single nucleotides of DNA and RNA, using circles, pentagons and rectangles to represent phosphates, pentoses and bases.	In diagrams of DNA structure, the helical shape does not need to be shown, but the two strands should be shown antiparallel. Adenine should be shown paired with thymine and guanine with cytosine, but the relative lengths of the purine and pyrimidine bases do not need to be recalled, nor the numbers of hydrogen bonds between the base pairs.