NUCLEIC ACIDS

Hereditary material

A. Deoxyribonucleic acid: DNA, master molecule, stores hereditary information

B. Ribonucleic acid: RNA, template copy

[Nucleotides]: monomers of nucleic acids.

All nucleic acids consist of many nucleotides bonded together.

1. Sugar: 5-carbon ribose or deoxyribose

2. Phosphate group

3. Nitrogen base

DNA Nucleotides

a) Sugar = deoxyribose

b) Double helix form: two intertwined chains (double stranded)

Specific base pairing, complementary

Guanine (G) - Cytosine (C)

Adenine(A) - Thymine (T)

RNA Nucleotides

a) Sugar = ribose

b) Uracil (U) replaces thymine (T) in RNA

Uracil (U) - Adenine (A)

Guanine (G) - Cytosine (C)

c) Single stranded helix

[Proteins] [Carbohydrates] [Lipids]