Biology- Chapter 4

Nucleic Acids

Nucleic Acid

macromolecule that carries genetic information read in cells to create RNA + proteins

How many calories does one gram of nucleic acid produce?

Not used for metabolism

-if metabolized they would only provide around 2 calories

DNA

deoxyribonucleic acid

-fundamental hereditary material of all organisms

RNA

ribonucleic acid

-single strand

Nucleotide? structure?

basic chemical unit in nucleic acids

-built up of nitrogenous base, sugar, and phosphate

Forms of nitrogenous bases

Pyrimidine

Purine

Pyrimidine base

6 membered single-ring structure

ie: cytosine, thymine, uracil

Purine

fused double ring structure

ie: adenine, guanine

Bonds between nitrogenous bases

Adenine bonds with thymine (uracil)

Guanine bonds with cytosine

Organic Compound

Molecule of life that contains carbon

Cells

simplest structural unit of a living organism