1.

Composition of nucleic acids

2. Structure and function of DNA
3. Structures and functions of RNA
4. Properties of nucleic acid
 Deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA

Nucleic acid
Ribonucleic acid, RNA
 Section 1. Composition of nucleic acids

Nucleic acids Nucleotides

Nucleosides phosphate

Bases Sugar
purines ribose
pyrimidines deoxyribose
1. Bases
Purines and pyrimidines
Purines :
adenine , guanine
Pyrimidines :
cytosine, thymine
2. Ribose (in RNA) and deoxyribose (in DNA)

b
b
HOCH2 O OH HOCH2 O OH

OH OH OH (no O)

ribose deoxyribose

8
 CH2OH CH2OH
OH 5 OH
5

4 1 b 4 1

H
H H H 3 2 H H
H 3 2 H

OH OH OH H

Ribose Deoxyribose
3. Ribonucleosides
Ribonucleoside = ribose/deoxyribose +
bases
 NH2

O O N
O- P O CH2
-
O
O

OH

deoxyctyidine monophosphate (dCMP)

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The common ribonucleosides-cytidine, uridine, adenosine
and guanosine.
Base Sugar Nucleoside
Adenine (A) Deoxyribose Deoxyadenosine
Guanine (G) Deoxyribose Deoxyguanosine
Cytosine (C) Deoxyribose Deoxycytidine
Thymine (T) Deoxyribose Deoxythymidine

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Base Sugar Nucleoside
Adenine (A) ribose Adenosine
Guanine (G) ribose Guanosine
Cytosine (C) ribose Cytidine
Uracil (U) ribose Uridine

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4. Nucleotides
Nucleotide = nucleoside + phosphate
 NH2

N
CMP
O O N
O- P O CH2
-
O
O
3
3,5-phosphodiester bond NH2
OH N
N

O 5 N N
O P O CH2
-
O AMP
O

OH 16
DNA
dAMP Deoxyadenosine monophosphate
dGMP Deoxyguanosine monophosphate
dCMP Deoxycytidine monophosphate
dTMP Deoxythymidine monophosphate

RNA
AMP adenosine monophosphate
GMP guanosine monophosphate
CMP cytidine monophosphate
UMP uridine monophosphate
17
5. Nucleoside diphosphates and
triphosphates
 6. Polynucleic acid chain

Polynucleic acid chain = connected nucleotides

binding by 35phosphodiester bonds
3,5phosphodiester bridges link nucleotides
together to form polynucleotide chains
Section 2. Structure and function
of DNA
1. Primary structure
The base sequence in
polydeoxynucleotide chain.

The smallest DNA in nature is virus DNA.

The length of X174 virus DNA is 5,386
bases (a single chain).

The DNA length of human genome is

3,000,000,000 pair bases.
2. Secondary structure
DNA double helix structure
 Francis H.C. Crick

James D. Watson
 DNA contains two strands of nucleotides
Hydrogen (H) bonds hold the two strands
in a double-helix structure
A helix structure is like a spiral stair case
Bases are always paired as AT and GC
Thus the bases along one strand
complement the bases along the other

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Two H bonds for A-T
Three H bonds for G-C

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 Key points on DNA double helic structure
(1) DNA is composed of two strand wound
round each other to form a double helix.
The two DNA strands are organized in an
antiparallel arrangement: the two strands
run in opposite directions, one strand is
oriented 53 and the other is oriented 3
5.
(2) The bases on the inside and the sugar-
phosphate backbones on the outside.
(3) The diameter of the double helix is 2 nm,
the distance between two base is 0.34 nm,
each turn of the helix involves 10 bases
pairs, 34 nm.
 (4) The bases of two strands form hydrogen
bonds to each other, A pairs with T, G pairs
with C. this is called complementary base
pairing.
(5) stable configuration can be maintained by
hydrogen bond and base stacking force
The antiparallel
nature of the DNA
double helix
Conformational variation in double-
helical structure

B-DNA
A-DNA
Z-DNA
 3. Tertiary structure : Supercoils
Supercoils: double-stranded
circular DNA form supercoils.
 The DNA in a prokaryotic cell is a supercoil.

The DNA in eukaryotic cell is packaged into

chromosomes.
 Nucleosome

Histones interact ionically with the

anionic phosphate groups in the
DNA backbone to form
nucleosomes, structures in
which the DNA double helix is
wound around a protein core
composed of pairs of four
different histone polypeptides.
 The carrier of genetic information.
The template strand involved in replication and
transcription.

Gene: the minimum functional unit in DNA

Genome: the total genes in a living cell or living

beings.
alphabet Nucleotide(codon)

sentence gene

book DNA
 Section 3. Structures and functions of RNA
1. Types :
mRNA: messenger RNA, the carrier of genetic
information from DNA to translate into protein
tRNA: transfer RNA , to transport amino acid
to ribosomes to synthesize protein
rRNA: ribosome RNA, the components of
ribosomes
hnRNA: Heterogeneous nuclear RNA
snRNA: small nuclear RNA
Ribosome
 RNA molecules are largely single-stranded but
there are double-stranded regions.
 The carrier of genetic information from
DNA for the synthesis of protein.
Composition: vary considerably in size
(500-6000 bases in E. coli)
 Eukaryotic mRNA Structure

(1) Capping: linkage of 7-methylguanosine 7-

to the 5 terminal residue.
(2) Tailing: attachment of an adennylate
polymer (poly A)
 Ribosome RNA (rRNA)

A component of ribosomes.
Ribosomes are cytoplasmic structures
that synthesize protein, composed of
both proteins and rRNA.
The ribosomes of prokaryotes and
eukaryotes are similar in shape and
function. The difference between them is
the size and chemical composition.
 rRNA

RIBOSOM

Ribosom
Ribosom Ribosom
Mitokondria
prokariot eukariot & kloroplas
Unit 70S Unit 80S Unit 70S

Subunit 30S Subunit 50S Subunit 40S Subunit 60S Subunit 30S Subunit 50S
The organization and composition of
prokaryotic and eukaryotic ribosomes
The proposed
secondary structure
for E. coli 16S rRNA
 Transfer RNA (tRNA)
Function: Transport amino acids to ribosomes for
assembly into proteins.

Primary Structure :
Average length: 75 bases
Modified bases: pseudouridine
methylguanosine
dihydrouridine
The sequence CCA at the 3 terminus
 Secondary structure: warped cloverleaf

Four loops and four arms

Amino acid arm (7bp): to bind amino acid
D loop (8-14bp) and D arm (3-4bp):
Anticode loop(5bp) and arm (7bp): to
recognize amino acid
TC loop7bp and arm(5bp)
Variable loop(4-5 bp or 13-21bp)
A general diagram for the structure of tRNA
The complete
nucleotid sequence
and clover leaf
structure of yeast
Alanine tRNA
D-Loop
 DNA

Coding (gene) non coding

RNA Protein
 DNA

Coding region (Gene) Non coding region

Protein RNA Mitocondria nucleus

D-Loop Microsatellite
Exon Intron
Minisatellite
(Coding region) (Non coding region)