Nucleic Acid: 1. Nitrogenous Bases

Nucleic Acids
NUCLEIC ACID
-Nucleic acids are the most important macromolecules for the
continuity of life. They carry the genetic blueprint of a cell and
carry instructions for the functioning of the cell.
DNA
-”Deoxyribonucleic Acid”
- is the genetic material found in ALL organisms,
ranging from
single-celled bacteria to multicellular mammals.
- found in the nucleus of eukaryotes and in the
chloroplasts and
mitochondria. In prokaryotes, the DNA is not enclosed in a
membranous envelope.
- in eukaryotic cells, DNA forms a complex with
histone
proteins to form chromatin, the substance if eukaryotic
chromosomes.
- many genes contain the information to make protein
products;
other genes code for RNA products.
- DNA controls all of the cellular activities by
turning the genes “on”
or “off”.
RNA
-mostly involved in protein synthesis.
-messenger RNA (mRNA) is an intermediary messenger
that DNA molecules uses to communicate with the rest of the cell
instead.
*rRNA, tRNA, and microRNA
-involved in protein synthesis and its
regulation.
*Nucleotides combine with each other to form a
polynucleotide, DNA and RNA.
3 COMPONENTS OF NUCLEOTIDE:
• A nitrogenous base
• A pentose (5-carbon) sugar
• Phosphate groups
1. Nitrogenous Bases
Nitrogenous bases are
important components of nucleotides, are
organic molecules, and named because
they contain carbon and nitrogen. They
are bases because they contain an amino
group that has the potential of binding
an extra hydrogen; thus decreasing the
hydrogen ion concentration in its
environment and making it more basic.
Each nucleotide in DNA contains one of four bases:Adenine (A),
Guanine (G), Cytosine (C), and Thymine (T). Adenine and guanine
are classified as purines. The primary structure of a purine is two
carbon-nitrogen ring represented by adenine and guanine.
Cytosine, thymine, and uracil (RNA) on theother hand, are
classified as pyrimidines which have a single carbon-nitrogen
ring as their primary structure. DNA contains A, T, C and G. RNA
has A, U, C and G. Purines are derived from pyrimidines by
addition of an imidazole group. Both purines and pyrimidines have
all their atoms on the same plane.
2. Pentose Sugar
-In DNA, the pentose sugar is deoxiribose, and in RNA, the
sugaris ribose. The difference between the sugars is the presence
of the
hydroxyl group on
the second
carbon of the
ribose and
hydrogen on the
second carbon of
the
deoxyribose. The
carbon atoms of the sugar molecule are
numbered as 1`, 2`, 3`, 4`, and 5`.
The phosphate residue is attached to the hydroxyl group of the 3`
carbon of the sugar of the next nucleotide, which forms a 5`-3`
phosphodiester linkage. The phosphodiester linkage in not formed
by simple dehydration reaction like the other linkage connecting
monomers in macromolecules; its formation involves the removal of
two phosphate groups. A polynucleotide may have thousands of such
phosphodiester linkage.
DNA DOUBLE-HELIX STRUCTURE

Only certain types of
base pairing is allowed. this means A
can pair with T, and G can pair with
C. This is known as the
base complementary rule or Chargaff’s
Rule. In other words, the DNA strands
are complementary to each other.
During DNA
replication,
each strand is copied, resulting
in a daughter DNA double helix
containing one parental DNA strand and a
newly synthesized strand; the daughter
DNA is identical to the parental DNA.
RNA
Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is mainly
involved in the process of
protein synthesis under the direction of
DNA. RNA is usually single-stranded and
is made of ribonucleotides. A
ribonucleotide in the RNA chain contains
ribose (the pentose sugar), one of the
four nitrogenous bases (A, U, G, and C),
and the phosphate group.
FOUR MAJOR TYPES OF RNA:
1. Messenger RNA (mRNA)
- carries the message from DNA, which controls all
of the cellular activities in a cell. if a cell requires a
certain protein to be synthesized, the gene for this product is
turned “on” and the messenger RNA is synthesized in the nucleus.
- the mRNA is read in sets of three bases known as
codons. Each codon codes for a single amino acid. In this way,
the mRNA is read and the protein product is made. In the
cytoplasm, the mRNA interacts with ribosomes and other cellular
machinery.
2. Ribosomal RNA (rRNA)
- is a major constituent of the ribosomes on which
the mRNA binds. The rRNA ensures the proper alignment of the mRNA
and the ribosomes; the rRNA of the ribosome also has an enzymatic
activity(peptidyl transfrase) and catalyzes the formation of the
peptide bonds between two aligned amino acids.
3. Transfer RNA (tRNA)
- is one of the smallest of the four types of RNA,
usually 70-90 nucleotides long. it carries the correct amino acid
to the site of protein synthesis. It is the base pairing between
the tRNA and mRNA that allows for the correct amino acid to be
inserted in the polypeptide chain.
4. MicroRNA (miRNA)
- the smallest RNA molecules, and their role
involves the regulation of gene expression by interferring with
the expression of certain mRNA messages.

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Nucleic Acids

DNA DOUBLE-HELIX STRUCTURE

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