Aditya Prakash

Nucleic Acids
The transmission of inherent characters from generation to another generation in a living species is
called as heredity.

The particles in nucleus of the cell, responsible for heredity, are called chromosomes which are
made up of proteins and another type of biomolecules called nucleic acids.

Nucleic acids are mainly of two types, the

a. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and

b. Ribonucleic acid (RNA).

DNA is a biological polymer composed of two molecular strands held together by hydrogen bonds.

DNA is the molecular archive of instructions for protein synthesis. RNA molecules transcribe and
translate the information from DNA for the mechanics of protein synthesis. Its overall structure is that
of a twisted ladder with a backbone of alternating sugar and phosphate units and rungs made of
hydrogen-bonded pairs of heterocyclic amine bases. DNA molecules are very long polymers. If the
DNA from a single human cell were extracted and laid straight end-to-end, it would be roughly a meter
long. To package DNA into the microscopic container of a cell’s nucleus, however, it is supercoiled and
bundled into the 23 pairs of chromosomes.

Figure: The basics of genetics. Each cell in the human body (except red blood cells) contains 23 pairs of chromosomes.
Chromosomes are inherited: each parent contributes one chromosome per pair to their children.
(a) Each chromosome is made up of a tightly coiled strand of DNA. The structure of DNA in its uncoiled state reveals
(b) the familiar double-helix shape. If we picture DNA as a twisted ladder, the sides, made of sugar and phosphate
molecules, are connected by (c) rungs made of heterocyclic amine bases. DNA has four, and only four, bases—adenine
(A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C)—that form interlocking pairs. The order of the bases along the length of
the ladder is called the DNA sequence. Within the overall sequence are genes, which encode the structure of proteins.
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Four types of heterocyclic bases are involved in the rungs of the DNA ladder, and it is the sequence of
these bases that carries the information for protein synthesis. Human DNA consists of approximately
3 billion base pairs. In an effort that marks a milestone in the history of science, a working draft of the
sequence of the 3 billion base pairs in the human genome was announced in 2000. A final version was
announced in 2003, the 50th anniversary of the structure determination of DNA by Watson and Crick.

● Each section of DNA that codes for a given protein is called a gene.
● The set of all genetic information coded by DNA in an organism is its genome.

There are approximately 30,000–35,000 genes in the human genome.

Since nucleic acids are long chain polymers of nucleotides, so they are also called polynucleotides.

Complete hydrolysis of a nucleotide furnishes:

1. A heterocyclic base from either the purine or pyrimidine family.

2. A five-carbon monosaccharide that is either d-ribose or 2-deoxy-d-ribose.
3. A phosphate ion.

Chemical Composition of Nucleic Acids:

Nucleic acid ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

→ Pentose + Phosphoric acid + base
complete hydrolysis

DNA RNA
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DNA contains four bases viz. adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T).

RNA contains four bases, the first three bases are same as in DNA but the fourth one is uracil (U).

Structure of Nucleic Acids

A unit formed by the attachment of a base to 1’ position of sugar is known as nucleoside.

In nucleosides, the sugar carbons are numbered as 1’, 2’, 3’ etc. in order to distinguish these from
the bases.

When nucleoside is linked to phosphoric acid at 5’-position of sugar moiety, we get a nucleotide.
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Nucleotides are joined together by phosphodiester linkage between 5’ and 3’ carbon atoms of the
pentose sugar. The formation of a typical dinucleotide is shown below:

Figure A segment of one DNA chain showing how phosphate ester groups link the 3’- and 5’-OH groups of deoxyribose
units. RNA has a similar structure with two exceptions: a hydroxyl replaces a hydrogen atom at the 2’ position of each
ribose unit and uracil replaces thymine.
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A simplified version of nucleic acid chain is as shown below:

Information regarding the sequence of nucleotides in the chain of a nucleic acid is called its primary
structure.
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Secondary structure:

a. Nucleic acids have a secondary structure also. James Watson

and Francis Crick gave a double strand helix structure for DNA.
Two nucleic acid chains are wound about each other and held
together by hydrogen bonds between pairs of bases. The two strands
are complementary to each other because the hydrogen bonds are formed
between specific pairs of bases.

 Adenine forms hydrogen bonds with Thymine whereas

 Cytosine forms hydrogen bonds with Guanine.

b. In secondary structure of RNA, helices are present which are only single
stranded. Sometimes they fold back on themselves to form a double helix
structure.

RNA molecules are of three types and they perform different functions.

a. Messenger RNA (m-RNA),

b. Ribosomal RNA (r-RNA) and
c. Transfer RNA (t-RNA)

Biological Functions of Nucleic Acids

DNA is the chemical basis of heredity and may be regarded as the reserve of genetic information. DNA
is exclusively responsible for maintaining the identity of different species of organisms over millions
of years. A DNA molecule is capable of self duplication during cell division and identical DNA strands
are transferred to daughter cells. Another important function of nucleic acids is the protein synthesis
in the cell. Actually, the proteins are synthesised by various RNA molecules in the cell but the message
for the synthesis of a particular protein is present in DNA.