WRITTEN

REPORT
IN BIOLOGY

GROUP 1

Objectives:
-describe the structure of nucleic acid and the types of molecules that contain them
-differentiate the difference between DNA and RNA according to its structure and
functions
Nucleic Acid
- a naturally occurring chemical compound that is
capable of being broken down to yield phosphoric acid,
sugars, and nitrogenous bases.
-are main information-carrying molecules of the cell,
and, by directing the process of protein synthesis, they
determine the inherited characteristics of every living
thing.

Two Main Classes of Nucleic Acid

1. DNA(deoxyribonucleic acid)
-is the master blueprint for life and constitutes the
genetic material in all free living organisms and
most viruses.
2. RNA (ribonucleic acid)
-is the genetic material of certain viruses, but it is also found in all living cells, where it plays
an important role in certain processes such as the making of proteins.

DNA and RNA are made up of monomers known as nucleotides. The nucleotides combine
with each other to form a polynucleotide, DNA or RNA. Each nucleotide is made up of 3
components: a nitrogenous base, a pentose (five carbon) sugar, and a phosphate
group. Each nitrogenous base in a nucleotide is attached to a sugar molecule, which is
attached to one or more phosphate groups.

Nitrogenous Base
-important components of nucleotides, are organic
molecules and contains carbon and nitrogen. They are
bases because they contain an amino group that has
the potential of binding an extra hydrogen, and thus,
decreases the hydrogen ion concentration in its
environment, making it more basic.
-In DNA, it contains one of four possible nitrogenous
bases: Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine.
-In RNA, it contains one of four possible nitrogenous
bases: Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, and Uracil rather
than Thymine.

2 classification of Nitrogenous Base

1. Purines- primary structure of purine is two carbon-nitrogen rings.
(Adenine and Guanine)
2. Pyrimidines -have a single carbon- nitrogen ring as their primary structure.
(Cytosine, Thymine, Uracil)
 Sugar
-the sugar present inside the nucleic acid are five
carbon sugars or “Pentoses”.
-sugar in DNA is deoxyribose, and in RNA, the sugar is
ribose.
-the carbon atoms of the sugar molecule are numbered
as 1’, 2’, 3’, 4’ and 5’.

Phosphate group
The phosphate residue is to the hydroxyl group of
the 5’ carbon of one sugar and the hydroxyl group of the 3’
carbon of the sugar of the next nucleotide, which forms a
5’-3’phosphodiester linkage. The phosphodiester linkage is
not formed by simple dehydration reaction like the other
linkages connecting monomers in macromolecules; its
formation involves the removal of two phosphate groups. A
polynucleotide may have thousands of such
phosphodiester linkages.

The DNA
-is the molecule which is located inside the
nucleus of the cell
-is a double helix looks like a twisted staircase,
with the sugar and phosphate backbone
surrounding complementary nitrogen bases. The
nitrogenous bases are stacked in the interior in
pairs, like the steps of the staircase; the pairs
are bound to each other by hydrogen bonds.
The two strands of the helix run in opposite
directions. This antiparallel orientation is
important to DNA replication and in many
nucleic acid interactions.
Antiparallel Strands: In a double stranded DNA molecule,
the two strands run antiparallel to one another so one is
upside down compared to the other.

Base Pairs
Only certain types of base pairing are allowed. This means Adenine pairs with Thymine, and
Guanine pairs with Cytosine. This is known as the base complementary rule because the DNA
strands are complementary with each other. If the sequence of one strand is AATTGGCC, the
complementary strand would have the sequence TTAACCGG.

Minor and Major Groove

The strand backbones are closer together on one side
of the helix than the other. The major groove occurs
where the backbones are far apart, the minor groove
occurs where they are close together. The grooves twist
around the molecule on opposite sides. Certain proteins
bind to DNA to alter its structure or to regulate
transcription (copying DNA to RNA) or replication
(copying DNA to DNA). It is easier for these DNA
binding proteins to interact with the bases (the internal
parts of the DNA molecule) on the major groove side
because the backbones are not in the way.

The RNA
-is a single stranded biopolymer. However, the
presence of self-complementary sequences in
the RNA strand leads to intrachain base pairing
and folding of the ribonucleotide chain into
complex structural forms consisting of bulges
and helices.
RNA consists of ribose nucleotides
(nitrogenous bases appended to a ribose sugar)
attached by phosphodiester bonds, forming --
bases in RNA are adenine, guanine, cytosine,
and uracil, which replaces thymine in DNA.
The three well known and most commonly
studied types of RNA are messenger RNA (mRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), and ribosomal RNA
(rRNA), which are present in all organisms. These and other types of RNAs primarily carry out
biochemical reactions, like enzymes. Some, however, also have complex regulatory functions in
cells. Owing to their involvement in many regulatory processes, to their abundance and to their
diverse functions, RNAs play important roles in both normal cellular processes and diseases.
Supercoiling
Means that the DNA is either under-wound (less than one turn of the helix per ten base pair) or over-
wound (more than one turn per ten base pair) from its normal relaxed state. Some proteins are known
to be involved in the supercoiling; other proteins and enzymes such as DNA gyrase help in maintaining
the supercoiled structure.

The Proteins
-are the most abundant organic molecules in living system and have the most diverse range of functions
of all macromolecules. Proteins may be structural, regulatory, contractile or protective; they may serve
in transport, storage, or membranes :or they may be toxins or enzymes.
Amino acids are the monomers that make up proteins. Each amino acids has the same fundamental
structure, which consists of a central carbon atom, also known as the alpha (a) carbon, bonded to an
amino group , a carboxyl group, and to a hydrogen atom. The carboxyl group of one amino acid and the
amino group of the incoming amino acid combine, releasing a molecule of water. The resulting bond is
the peptide bond.
The products formed by such linkages are called peptides. As more amino acidjoin to this growing chain,
the resulting chain is known as a polypeptide.