Nucleic acid

• Nucleic acids are biological molecules essential for life.
The term nucleic acid is the over all name for DNA and RNA, members of a family of biopolymers, and is synonymous with polynucleotide.Nucleic acids were named for their initial discovery within the cell nucleus, and for the presence of phosphate groups.

• Each is found in abundance in all living things.
Nucleic acids are known tobe found in all life forms including within bacteria, archaea, mitochondria, chloroplasts, viruses and viroids.

• Together with proteins, they make up the most important macromolecules.
The basiccomponent of biological nucleic acids is the nucleotide, each of which contains a pentose sugar.

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• Nucleic Acids are generally very large molecules.
Nucleic acids can vary insize, but are generally very large molecules. Indeed, DNA molecules are probably the largest individual molecules known. Well-studied biological nucleic acid molecules range in size from 21 nucleotides tolarge chromosomes.

• Linear polymers of nucleotides.
Each nucleotide consists of three components: a purine or pyrimidine nucleobase, a pentose sugar, and a phosphate group. The substructureconsisting of a nucleobase plus sugar is termed a nucleoside.

• The nucleobase founded in the nucleic acid types are different.
Adenine, cytosine, and guanine are found in both RNA and DNA, whilethymine occurs in DNA and uracil occurs in RNA.

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• One DNA or RNA molecule differs from another primarily in the sequence of nucleotides.
Nucleotide sequences are of great importancein biology, since they carry the ultimate instructions that encode all biological molecules.
Today hundreds of millions of nucleotides are sequenced daily at genome centers and smallerlaboratories worldwide.

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Nucleic acid types differ in the structure of the sugar in their nucleotides
• Deoxyribonucleic acid
Is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used...