Nucleic acids store and transmit

hereditary information
• The amino acid sequence of a polypeptide
is programmed by a unit of inheritance
called a gene

• Genes are made of DNA, a nucleic acid

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The structure of DNA and RNA

• Genetic material of living organisms is

either DNA or RNA.
• DNA – Deoxyribonucleic acid
• RNA – Ribonucleic acid

• Genes are lengths of DNA that code for

particular proteins.
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 DNA and RNA are polynucleotides

 Both DNA and RNA are polynucleotides.

 They are made up of smaller molecules
called nucleotides. Nucleotide
 DNA is made of two polynucleotide strands:

Nucleotide Nucleotide Nucleotide Nucleotide Nucleotide

Nucleotide Nucleotide Nucleotide Nucleotide Nucleotide

 RNA is made of a single polynucleotide strand:

Nucleotide Nucleotide Nucleotide Nucleotide Nucleotide

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 D. Nucleic Acids
• Two kinds:
– DNA:
double stranded
can self replicate
makes up genes which code for proteins
is passed from one generation to another
– RNA:
single stranded
functions in actual synthesis of proteins coded for by DNA
is made from the DNA template molecule
 The Structure of Nucleic Acids

• Nucleic acids are polymers called

polynucleotides

• Each polynucleotide is made of monomers

called nucleotides

• The portion of a nucleotide without the

phosphate group is called a nucleoside

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

 Nucleotides
Each nucleotide consists of a nitrogenous base, a
pentose sugar, and a phosphate group

Nitrogenous base; these bases are classified based on

their chemical structures into two groups:
Purine;double ringed structure (Adenine and Guanine).
Pyrimidine; single ring structures (cytosine and thymine).

Sugar
Phosphate group
 Structure of a nucleotide
A nucleotide is made
of 3 components:
 A Pentose sugar

 This is a 5 carbon
sugar
 The sugar in DNA
is deoxyribose.
 The sugar in RNA is
ribose.
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 Structure of a nucleotide
 A Phosphate group
 Phosphate groups
are important
because they link
the sugar on one
nucleotide onto the
phosphate of the
next nucleotide to
make a
polynucleotide.
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 Structure of a nucleotide
 A Nitrogenous base

 In DNA the four bases

are:
– Thymine
– Adenine
– Cytosine
– Guanine

 In RNA the four bases

are:
– Uracil
– Adenine
– Cytosine
– Guanine
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 Nucleotides

 DNA: Four different types of nucleotides differ in

nitrogenous base:
 A is for adenine;
 G is for guanine;
 C is for cytosine and
 T is for thymine.

 RNA: thymine base replaced by uracil base.

Dr./Salwa Hassan Teama 2012
The bases always pair up in the same way

Adenine forms a bond with Thymine

Adenine Thymine

and Cytosine bonds with Guanine

Cytosine Guanine
Fig. 5-27c-1

Nitrogenous bases
Pyrimidines

Cytosine (C) Thymine (T, in DNA) Uracil (U, in RNA)

Purines

Adenine (A) Guanine (G)

(c) Nucleoside components: nitrogenous bases

Fig. 5-27c-2

Sugars

Deoxyribose (in DNA) Ribose (in RNA)

(c) Nucleoside components: sugars

Nucleotide Monomer Structure
• Both DNA and RNA are composed of
nucleotide monomers.
• Nucleotide = 5 carbon sugar,
phosphate, and nitrogenous base

Deoxyribose in DNA Ribose in RNA

 Building the Polymer
• Phosphate group of one nucleotide forms
strong covalent bond with the #3 carbon of the
sugar of the other nucleotide.
 Functions of Nucleotides
• Monomers for Nucleic Acids
• Transfer chemical energy from one
molecule to another (e.g. ATP)
 Sugar phosphate bonds
(backbone of DNA)
• Nucleotides are connected to
each other via the phosphate
on one nucleotide and the
sugar on the next nucleotide
• A Polynucleotide

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 A HISTORY OF DNA
• Discovery of the DNA double helix
A. Frederick Griffith – Discovers that a factor
in diseased bacteria can transform harmless
bacteria into deadly bacteria (1928)
B. Rosalind Franklin - X-ray photo of DNA.
(1952)
C. Watson and Crick - described the
DNA molecule from Franklin’s X-ray.
(1953)
James Watson (L) and Francis Crick (R), and the model

they built of the structure of DNA

AS Biology. Gnetic control of protein

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X-ray diffraction photograph of
the DNA double helix

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AS Biology. Gnetic control of protein
structure and function
 The Rule:
• Adenine always base pairs with Thymine
(or Uracil if RNA)

• Cytosine always base pairs with Guanine.

• This is beacuse there is exactly enough

room for one purine and one pyramide
base between the two polynucleotide
strands of DNA.

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DNA:
• Double helix
• 2 polynucleotide chains
wound into the double helix
• Base pairing between
chains with H bonds
•A-T
•C-G
• Each base pair forms a different number
of hydrogen bonds

Adenine and thymine form two bonds,

Cytosine and guanine form three bonds
 Chargaff’s Rule
• Adenine must pair with Thymine
• Guanine must pair with Cytosine
• Their amounts in a given DNA molecule will
be about the same.
same

T A G C
BASE-PAIRINGS
H-bonds

G C

T A
 Difference between RNA & DNA

RNA DNA
RNA nucleotides contain DNA contains deoxyribose
ribose sugar
RNA has the base uracil DNA has the base thymine
RNA is usually single-stranded DNA is usually double-
stranded