Nucleic
Acids:
Nucleotides are monomers that are used to make nucleic acids, such as
ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Three elements make up
each nucleotide: a nitrogenous base, a phosphate group, and a 5-carbon sugar.
DNA is the polymer in the case of deoxyribose as the sugar. RNA is the polymer
if the sugar is ribose. All three elements come together to make a nucleotide.
Phosphate nucleotides are another name for nucleotides.
The three most significant
biological macromolecules are lipids/fats, sugars/carbohydrates, and amino
acids/proteins. Nucleic acids are one of these. The nucleic acid sequence, or
the arrangement of nucleotides within a DNA or RNA molecule, is the means by
which genetic information is encoded, transmitted, and expressed in all living
things. They are abundant in all living things. Through the process of protein
synthesis, genetic information is stored and transferred using strings of
nucleotides arranged in a certain order.
Friedrich Miescher made the
discovery of nucleic acids in 1869. A significant portion of contemporary
biological and medical research involves experimental studies of nucleic acids,
which also serve as the basis for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors,
forensic and genome science, and genome analysis.
Deoxyribonucleic
acid DNA:
DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a type of nucleic acid
that houses the genetic information necessary for the growth and operation of
all known living things. Genes are the pieces of DNA that carry this genetic
information. Similarly, additional DNA sequences control how this genetic
information is used or serve structural roles. Together with RNA and proteins,
DNA is one of the three main macromolecules required for all known forms of
life.
DNA is composed of two lengthy polymers known as nucleotides, which are simple
molecules containing sugar and phosphate groups connected by ester bonds for
their backbones. These two strands are anti-parallel because they flow in
different directions from one another. Each sugar has one of four different
kinds of molecules, or nucleobases, attached to it.
It is the sequencing of these four
nucleobases along the backbone that encodes information. The genetic code,
which describes the arrangement of amino acids in proteins, is used to read
this data. Transcription is the process by which DNA stretches are copied into
the corresponding nucleic acid RNA in order to read the code. DNA is arranged
into lengthy structures called chromosomes within cells. These chromosomes are
replicated during cell division as a result of DNA replication, giving each
cell a full complement of chromosomes. The majority of the DNA in eukaryotic
organisms—plants, fungi, mammals, and protists—is kept in the cell nucleus,
whereas a smaller portion is kept in organelles like chloroplasts and
mitochondria.
Prokaryotes, which include bacteria and archaea, on the
other hand, only store their DNA in the cytoplasm. DNA is condensed and
arranged within chromosomes by histones and other chromatin proteins. These
little structures help regulate which regions of the DNA are transcribed by
directing how DNA interacts with other proteins.
Ribonucleic acid:
The process of translating genetic information from genes into the amino acid
sequences of proteins is carried out by ribonucleic acid (RNA). Transfer RNA
(tRNA), messenger RNA (mRNA), and ribosomal RNA (rRNA) are the three ubiquitous
forms of RNA.Messenger RNA facilitates the transfer of genetic sequence data
from DNA to ribosomes, hence controlling the synthesis of proteins.The primary
building block of the ribosome is ribosomal RNA, which catalyzes the synthesis
of peptide bonds. Decoding the mRNA is done by transfer RNA, which also acts as
a carrier molecule for the amino acids needed for protein production. It is
also now recognized that there are numerous more classes of RNA.
Synthetic analogues of nucleic acids :
Chemical scientists have created and manufactured artificial nucleic acid
analogs, such as peptide, morpholino, and locked nucleic acids, glycol, and
threose nucleic acids. These are all differentiated from naturally occurring
DNA or RNA by modifications to the molecule’s backbone.
Chemical
composition of DNA:
When DNA was originally identified
in 1869, its significance for genetic inheritance was not understood.
displayed up until 1943. The structure of DNA was discovered by James Watson
and Francis Crick in 1953 to be a double-helix polymer, a spiral made up of two
DNA strands twisted around each other.
different. Long chains of monomer nucleotides make up each strand. The DNA
nucleotide
Its made up of one of four
nitrogenous bases: adenine and guanine, two purines; cytosine and guanine, two
pyrimidines
thymine.
The phosphate of one nucleotide and
the sugar of the subsequent nucleotide generate covalent bonds that bind the
nucleotides together, creating a phosphate-sugar backbone from which the
nitrogenous bases extend. The bases form hydrogen bonds that hold one strand to
the other; these bonds have a precise sequence, such that adenine only bonds
with thymine and cytosine only with guanine.