Nucleotides and nucleic acids?
A nucleic acid is a chain of nucleotides. Their function is that the particular *sequence* of nucleotides in a nucleic acid determines the information carried by that nucleic acid. You can think of a molecule of nucleic acid as an instruction book for such things as the structure of a protein molecule that the cell must produce. If so, then the nucleotides are like the letters in the book. {edit} Dammit Neraj! Once again you simply cut-and-paste the entire wikipedia article! That's just lame: 1. Copying something without giving the source is *dishonest* ... implying that you wrote this yourself; 2. A *link* to the page would be far more useful ... as copy-pasting loses all the illustrations, hyperlinks, cross-references, headings, tables of contents, etc. 3. It's too effing *LONG*. 4. It doesn't answer the question! chris also copy-pasted from wikipedia ... but at least she had the honesty to say where she got it from, to include the link, and to edit it down just to the section that answered the question. Neraj, please stop doing this!!
The complete name for DNA is deoxyribonucleic acid. Which component of each nucleotide accounts for the "deoxyribo" part of this name?
Each DNA nucleotide is made up of three compnents; deoxyribose sugar, a phosphate group, and one of the four bases. The deoxyribose part is the sugar component.
Which of these substances is not part of a DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecule?
Which of these substances is not part of a DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecule? A. Amino acid B. Deoxyribose C. Nitrogenous base D. Phosphate
What are the elements that make up a nucleic acid?
A nucleic acid is usually made up of sugar (deoxyribose), a phosphate and one of five kinds of nucleobases. These are adenine, thymine, uracil, cytosine, and guanine.
What are the subunits of nucleic acid?
nucleic acid is a complex, high-molecular-weight biochemical macromolecule composed of nucleotide chains that convey genetic information. The most common nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). Nucleic acids are found in all living cells and viruses. Artificial nucleic acids include peptide nucleic acid (PNA), Morpholino and locked nucleic acid (LNA), as well as glycol nucleic acid (GNA) and threose nucleic acid (TNA). Each of these is distinguished from naturally occurring DNA or RNA by changes to the backbone of the molecule Chemical structure The term "nucleic acid" is the generic name of a family of biopolymers, named for their prevalence in cellular nuclei. The monomers from which nucleic acids are constructed are called nucleotides. Each nucleotide consists of three components: a nitrogenous heterocyclic base, either a purine or a pyrimidine; a pentose sugar; and a phosphate group. Different nucleic acid types differ in the structure of the sugar in their nucleotides; DNA contains 2-deoxyriboses while RNA contains ribose. Likewise, the nitrogenous bases found in the two nucleic acids are different: adenine, cytosine, and guanine are in both RNA and DNA, while thymine only occurs in DNA and uracil only occurs in RNA. Other rare nucleic acid bases can occur, for example inosine in strands of mature transfer RNA. Nucleic acids are usually either single-stranded or double-stranded, though structures with three or more strands can form. A double-stranded nucleic acid consists of two single-stranded nucleic acids hydrogen-bonded together. RNA is usually single-stranded, but any given strand may fold back upon itself to form double-helical regions. DNA is usually double-stranded, though some viruses have single-stranded DNA as their genome. The sugars and phosphates in nucleic acids are connected to each other in an alternating chain, linked by shared oxygens, forming a phosphodiester functional group. In conventional nomenclature, the carbons to which the phosphate groups are attached are the 3' and the 5' carbons of the sugar. The bases extend from a glycosidic linkage to the 1' carbon of the pentose sugar ring. Hydrophobic interaction of nucleic acids is poorly understood. For example, nucleic acids are insoluble in ethanol, TCA, and diluted hydrochloric acid; but they are soluble in diluted NaOH and HCl. Hope this helps
What are the 3 major types of nucleic acids?
Amino acids differ in the side chains or amino acid residues, denoted as 'R' in the above structures, determining the dielectric and electrochemical properties of proteins. The amino acids commonly found in proteins have one out of 20 different chemical groups that can be put into three major categories with respect to their water solubility: non-polar residues polar, neutral residues polar, charged residues This classification reflects the polarity of the side chain and determines the propensity of the side chain of being hydrated. Various organisms on earth collectively synthesize an enormous number of different proteins whose great range of physicochemical characteristics stem largely from the varied properties of those 20 amino acids.