What are the Basic Components of Nucleic Acids?
The nucleic acid DNA and RNA are polymers composed of nitrogenous bases, sugars and phosphoric acid. The link between the polymer unit is the phosphate diester bond. When the phosphate diester bond is hydrolysed the monomeric units of nucleic acid are recovered. This monomeric units are called nucleotide and consist of a nitrogenous base, a sugar and a phosphate.
Pentose Sugar
DNA contains deoxyribose sugar.
RNA contains ribose sugar.
The sugar molecule forms the backbone of the nucleic acid along with the phosphate group.
Phosphate Group
The phosphate group links the sugars of adjacent nucleotides to form the backbone of the nucleic acid chain.
It creates the phosphodiester bonds between the 3' carbon atom of one sugar and the 5' carbon atom of the next sugar.
Nitrogenous Base
The nitrogenous bases are the components that carry the genetic information in nucleic acids. There are five types of nitrogenous bases of two groups-Purines and Pyrimidines.
Purines: Purine bases are found in nucleic acids and are heterocyclic compounds consisting of a pyrimidine ring and an imidazole ring fused. The two purine bases are- Adenine (A) and Guanine (G).
Pyrimidines: Pyrimidine bases consist of a six-membered ring with two nitrogen atoms. The pyrimidine bases are – Thymine (T), Cytosine (C) and Uracil (U).
DNA contains adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine.
RNA contains adenine, uracil (instead of thymine), cytosine, and guanine.
