Nucleic Acids

What are nucleic acids?

• formed by the monomer nucleotides

What are the main functions of nucleic acids?

• Information storage (DNA)

• Protein synthesis (RNA)

• Energy transfers (ATP and NAD)

What are nucleotides?

• Composed of…

  • Phosphate (PO₄) group

  • pentose (5C) sugar

    • Ribose in RNA

    • Deoxyribose in DNA

  • Nitrogenous base

What bond keeps the components in a nucleotide together?

glycosyl bond

What are the 2 types of nitrogenous bases?

Purines

• Double ringed

• Adenine(A) and guanine (G)

Pyrimidines

• Single ringed

• Cytosine (C), uracil (U) - only in RNA, and thymine (T) - only in DNA)

What are the 3 types of nucleic acids?

• deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

• ribonucleic acid (RNA)

• adenosine triphosphate (ATP)

What is deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)?

• Main component of genes or hereditary material in cells

• Determine how a cell functions and what characteristics it has

• Consists of a deoxyribose sugar

• Structure of DNA = double helix (double stranded coiled)

• Contain the bases: A, T, C and G

What is complementary base-pairing?

• The two strands of DNA attach themselves through hydrogen bonding via their nitrogenous bases

• Nitrogenous bases from each strand pair up in a special way called complementary base pairing, where

  • A pairs with T (Appels in the Tree)

  • C paris with G (Cars in the Garage)

How do nucleotides bond?

Phosphodiester bonds and condensation reactions between nucleotides and hydrogen bonding between the A and T, C and G respectively

What is ribonucleic acid (RNA)?

• Consists of a single long chain of nucleotides

• Contains the instructions for making proteins

  • These proteins make up much of the structure of a cell and control how it functions

• Contains the 5C sugar ribose

• Does not contain thymine (T), Uracil(U) takes its place

• Contains bases: A, U, C, and G

What are the 3 types of RNA?

• Messenger RNA (mRNA) - carries the genetic blueprint from DNA out of the nucleus to the cell's protein-building factories. It acts as a set of instructions.

• Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) - transfers specific amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) to the ribosome. It reads the instructions on the mRNA and matches them with the correct amino acids

• Transfer RNA (tRNA) - makes up the major structural component of the ribosome itself. It acts as the physical factory and the chemical catalyst that links amino acids together into a protein chain.

What is adenosine triphosphate (ATP)?

• A modified nucleotide

• Known as the energy currency of the cell

• A major “product” of cellular respiration