NUCLIEC ACIDS_SCIENCE LESSON 5

• Nucleic acids are large chains of biomolecules made up of smaller units called nucleotides.
• The two types of nucleic acid molecules are DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid).
• One major function of nucleic acids is the sequencing of amino acids to build particular proteins during protein synthesis.
• DNA is found in all organisms-from unicellular to multicellular organisms.
• DNA contains the genetic material found in the nucleus of a prokaryote enclosed in a nuclear envelope.
• In prokaryotes, DNA is not enclosed in a nuclear envelope.
• DNA has a double-helix structure like a twisted ladder.
• RNA, on the other hand, is mostly involved in protein synthesis.
• If you look at its structure closely, RNA is the single-strand part of DNA.
• As the building blocks of nucleic acids, nucleotides combine to form the polynucleotides DNA and RNA.
• Both DNA and Did you know that the DN RNA are made up of three components: a nitrogenous base, a five-carbon sugar (pentose), and a phosphate group.
• Nitrogenous bases are organic molecules made up of carbon and nitrogen.
• The pentose sugar contains five carbon atoms, where each carbon is numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5' (2' is read as 2 prime).
• The five-carbon sugar in DNA is called deoxyribose, and the sugar in RNA is called ribose.
• The difference in the sugar of the two nucleic acids is the presence of the hydroxyl group (-OH) in the 2' in ribose, which is not present in the 2' of deoxyribose.
• The phosphate group of nucleic acids is attached to the five-carbon sugar atom to form the backbone of DNA and RNA.