Scribd
Upload
28 views

Nucleic Acid STRUCTURE

Nucleic acids like DNA and RNA contain the genetic material and instructions for building the human body. Friedrich Miescher was the first to isolate nucleic acid from cell nuclei in 1869, naming the material "nuclein". Nucleic acids are made of nucleotides containing a sugar (ribose in RNA, deoxyribose in DNA), phosphate group, and one of four nitrogenous bases. DNA exists as a double helix containing the bases adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. RNA is usually single-stranded and contains adenine, guanine, cytosine, and uracil instead of thymine. There are different types of RNA including mRNA, rRNA, and tRNA that play important

Uploaded by

Kalel Sandoval
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
28 views

Nucleic Acid STRUCTURE

Nucleic acids like DNA and RNA contain the genetic material and instructions for building the human body. Friedrich Miescher was the first to isolate nucleic acid from cell nuclei in 1869, naming the material "nuclein". Nucleic acids are made of nucleotides containing a sugar (ribose in RNA, deoxyribose in DNA), phosphate group, and one of four nitrogenous bases. DNA exists as a double helix containing the bases adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. RNA is usually single-stranded and contains adenine, guanine, cytosine, and uracil instead of thymine. There are different types of RNA including mRNA, rRNA, and tRNA that play important

Uploaded by

Kalel Sandoval
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

Nucleic Acid

- This nucleic acid contains all of the genetic material that is required to make
nearly everything in the body. They essentially provide a blueprint for human
bodies.
- Nuclein was discovered by Friedrich Miescher who was the first person to
extract the material of a nucleus.

Friedrich Miescher
- Friedrich Miescher was a Swiss biologist who was fascinated with the study of
the material within cells.
- Coined the term “Nuclein”. Which is commonly known as “Nucleic Acid” today.
The reason behind this is because “Nucleic Acid” has shown acidic properties,
hence why it’s called “Nucleic Acid”.
- He wanted to figure out how to extract the inner material of a cell nucleus.
- Discovered nucleic acid while using neutrophils for his work, which are a type of
leukocyte.
- He succeeded in isolating a new molecule that he names nuclein because he
EXTRACTED it from the nucleus.

Two types of Nucleic acid


1. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
2. Ribonucleic acid (RNA

DNA (DeoxyriboNucleic Acid)


- DNA is quite a large biomolecule that has a double helix structure. There are two
backbones to this ladder, and these two backbones are joined by nitrogenous base
pairs. The nitrogenous base pairs make hydrogen bonds with their complementary
base pairs to keep the DNA structure together.
Nucleic Acid structure
- A nucleotides is the basic building block of nucleic acids (RNA and DNA).
- nucleic acids are polynucleotides.

The composition of DNA can be broken down into 3 main materials:


Pentose sugar: This is a 5-sided sugar structure that forms the backbone of the
helical DNA structure along with a phosphate group.
Phosphate: A phosphate group helps to form phosphodiester bonds between the
consecutive pentose sugars that are on the DNA ‘ladder’.
Nitrogenous bases: These are the base pairs that form the ‘rungs’. All of the bases
make their complementary bases.

4 Nitrogenous bases:
- Adenine (A)
-Guanine (G)
- Thymine (T)
- Cytosine (C)

RNA (RiboNucleic Acid)


- Ribonucleic acid (abbreviated RNA) is a nucleic acid present in all living cells
that has structural similarities to DNA. Unlike DNA, however, RNA is most often
single-stranded. An RNA molecule has a backbone made of alternating phosphate
groups and the sugar ribose, rather than the deoxyribose found in DNA.

4 Nitrogenous bases:
- Adenine (A)
-Guanine (G)
- Uracil (U)
- Cytosine (C)

Difference of DNA and RNA


1) RNA contains a different monosaccharide residue
2) RNA contains the bases A, G, C, and U instead of A, G, C, and T
3) RNA exists as a single strand instead of a double strand

Different types of RNA


(separate slide)
- Messenger RNA (Mrna) is a type of single-stranded RNA involved in protein
synthesis. The role of mRNA is to carry protein information from the DNA in a
cell’s nucleus to the cell’s cytoplasm (watery interior), where the protein-making
machinery reads the mRNA sequence and translates each three-base codon into its
corresponding amino acid in a growing protein chain.
(separate slide)
- Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) The RNA found in ribosomes, the molecules responsible for
catalysing protein synthesis, is known as ribonucleic acid (rRNA). Over 60-80% of the weight of the
ribosome is composed of ribosomal RNA, essential for all of the ribosome’s activities, including
binding to mRNA, attracting tRNA, and catalysing the formation of peptide bonds between amino
acids.

(separate slide)

- Transfer RNA (tRNA) is a small RNA molecule that plays a key role in protein
synthesis. Transfer RNA serves as a link (or adaptor) between the messenger RNA
(mRNA) molecule and the growing chain of amino acids that make up a protein.

You might also like