COMPOSITION OF NUCLEIC ACIDS

COMPOSITION OF NUCLEIC ACIDS

This section of the tutorial begins to look at the composition of nucleic acids starting from the biggest subunit and going all the way down to the very chemical elements that make them up.

Nucleic acids are one of several macromolecules in the body in addition to fats, proteins and carbohydrates. So it isn't surprising that nucleic acids are built like these other macromolecules. Nucleic acids and the other macromolecules just mentioned are polymers made up of individual molecules linked together in long chains.

• Proteins are polypeptides made up of individual amino acids linked together,
• Carbohydrates are polysaccharides made up of individual monosaccharides linked together, and
• Nucleic acids are polynucleotides made up of individual nucleotides linked together.

If you go even further, a nucleotide can itself be further broken down to yield three components:

• a sugar,
• a Nitrogen (amine) base, and
• phosphoric acid.
  

As mentioned in the Introduction to this tutorial, there are two types of nucleic acids: DNA and RNA. DNA stores genetic information, and RNA allows that information to be made use of in the cell. Before we discuss the overall structure of nucleic acids as polymers, we should probably find out how their individual component parts are joined together and how DNA and RNA differ.