DNA & RNA

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Nucleic acids are large biomolecules that are crucial in all cells and viruses.[1] They are composed of
nucleotides, which are the monomer components: a 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a
nitrogenous base. The two main classes of nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic
acid (RNA). If the sugar is ribose, the polymer is RNA; if the sugar is deoxyribose, a variant of ribose, the
polymer is DNA.

Nucleic acids RNA (left) and DNA (right).

Nucleic acids are chemical compounds that are found in nature. They carry information in cells and
make up genetic material. These acids are very common in all living things, where they create, encode,
and store information in every living cell of every life-form on Earth. In turn, they send and express that
information inside and outside the cell nucleus. From the inner workings of the cell to the young of a
living thing, they contain and provide information via the nucleic acid sequence. This gives the RNA and
DNA their unmistakable 'ladder-step' order of nucleotides within their molecules. Both play a crucial role
in directing protein synthesis.

Strings of nucleotides are bonded to form spiraling backbones and assembled into chains of bases or
base-pairs selected from the five primary, or canonical, nucleobases. RNA usually forms a chain of single
bases, whereas DNA forms a chain of base pairs. The bases found in RNA and DNA are: adenine,
cytosine, guanine, thymine, and uracil. Thymine occurs only in DNA and uracil only in RNA. Using amino
acids and protein synthesis,[2] the specific sequence in DNA of these nucleobase-pairs helps to keep and
send coded instructions as genes. In RNA, base-pair sequencing helps to make new proteins that
determine most chemical processes of all life forms.

The Swiss scientist Friedrich Miescher discovered nucleic acid first naming it as nuclein, in 1868. Later,
he raised the idea that it could be involved in heredity.[3]

Nucleic acid was first discovered by Friedrich Miescher in 1869 at the University of Tübingen, Germany.
He gave its first name as nuclein.[4] In the early 1880s Albrecht Kossel further purified the substance
and discovered its highly acidic properties. He later also identified the nucleobases. In 1889 Richard
Altmann created the term nucleic acid – at that time DNA and RNA were not differentiated.[5] In 1938
Astbury and Bell published the first X-ray diffraction pattern of DNA.[6]

In 1944 the Avery–MacLeod–McCarty experiment showed that DNA is the carrier of genetic information
and in 1953 Watson and Crick proposed the double-helix structure of DNA.[7]
Experimental studies of nucleic acids constitute a major part of modern biological and medical research,
and form a foundation for genome and forensic science, and the biotechnology and pharmaceutical
industries.[8][9][10]

Occurrence and nomenclature

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The term nucleic acid is the overall name for DNA and RNA, members of a family of biopolymers,[11]
and is synonymous with polynucleotide. Nucleic acids were named for their initial discovery within the
nucleus, and for the presence of phosphate groups (related to phosphoric acid).[12] Although first
discovered within the nucleus of eukaryotic cells, nucleic acids are now known to be found in all life
forms including within bacteria, archaea, mitochondria, chloroplasts, and viruses (There is debate as to
whether viruses are living or non-living). All living cells contain both DNA and RNA (except some cells
such as mature red blood cells), while viruses contain either DNA or RNA, but usually not both.[13] The
basic component of biological nucleic acids is the nucleotide, each of which contains a pentose sugar
(ribose or deoxyribose), a phosphate group, and a nucleobase.[14] Nucleic acids are also generated
within the laboratory, through the use of enzymes[15] (DNA and RNA polymerases) and by solid-phase
chemical synthesis.

Molecular composition and size

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Nucleic acids 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 (small interfering RNA) to large chromosomes (human chromosome 1 is a single molecule
that contains 247 million base pairs[16]).

In most cases, naturally occurring DNA molecules are double-stranded and RNA molecules are single-
stranded.[17] There are numerous exceptions, however—some viruses have genomes made of double-
stranded RNA and other viruses have single-stranded DNA genomes,[18] and, in some circumstances,
nucleic acid structures with three or four strands can form.[19]

Nucleic acids are linear polymers (chains) of nucleotides. Each nucleotide consists of three components:
a purine or pyrimidine nucleobase (sometimes termed nitrogenous base or simply base), a pentose
sugar, and a phosphate group which makes the molecule acidic. The substructure consisting of a
nucleobase plus sugar is termed a nucleoside. Nucleic acid types differ in the structure of the sugar in
their nucleotides–DNA contains 2'-deoxyribose while RNA contains ribose (where the only difference is
the presence of a hydroxyl group). Also, the nucleobases found in the two nucleic acid types are
different: adenine, cytosine, and guanine are found in both RNA and DNA, while thymine occurs in DNA
and uracil occurs in RNA.[citation needed]

The sugars and phosphates in nucleic acids are connected to each other in an alternating chain (sugar-
phosphate backbone) through phosphodiester linkages.[20] In conventional nomenclature, the carbons
to which the phosphate groups attach are the 3'-end and the 5'-end carbons of the sugar. This gives
nucleic acids directionality, and the ends of nucleic acid molecules are referred to as 5'-end and 3'-end.
The nucleobases are joined to the sugars via an N-glycosidic linkage involving a nucleobase ring nitrogen
(N-1 for pyrimidines and N-9 for purines) and the 1' carbon of the pentose sugar ring.

Non-standard nucleosides are also found in both RNA and DNA and usually arise from modification of
the standard nucleosides within the DNA molecule or the primary (initial) RNA transcript. Transfer RNA
(tRNA) molecules contain a particularly large number of modified nucleosides.[21]

Topology

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Double-stranded nucleic acids are made up of complementary sequences, in which extensive Watson-
Crick base pairing results in a highly repeated and quite uniform nucleic acid double-helical three-
dimensional structure.[22] In contrast, single-stranded RNA and DNA molecules are not constrained to a
regular double helix, and can adopt highly complex three-dimensional structures that are based on short
stretches of intramolecular base-paired sequences including both Watson-Crick and noncanonical base
pairs, and a wide range of complex tertiary interactions.[23]

Nucleic acid molecules are usually unbranched and may occur as linear and circular molecules. For
example, bacterial chromosomes, plasmids, mitochondrial DNA, and chloroplast DNA are usually circular
double-stranded DNA molecules, while chromosomes of the eukaryotic nucleus are usually linear
double-stranded DNA molecules.[13] Most RNA molecules are linear, single-stranded molecules, but
both circular and branched molecules can result from RNA splicing reactions.[24] The total amount of
pyrimidines in a double-stranded DNA molecule is equal to the total amount of purines. The diameter of
the helix is about 20 Å.

Sequences
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Main article: Nucleic acid sequence

Further information: Genetics

One DNA or RNA molecule differs from another primarily in the sequence of nucleotides. Nucleotide
sequences are of great importance in biology since they carry the ultimate instructions that encode all
biological molecules, molecular assemblies, subcellular and cellular structures, organs, and organisms,
and directly enable cognition, memory, and behavior. Enormous efforts have gone into the development
of experimental methods to determine the nucleotide sequence of biological DNA and RNA molecules,
[25][26] and today hundreds of millions of nucleotides are sequenced daily at genome centers and
smaller laboratories worldwide. In addition to maintaining the GenBank nucleic acid sequence database,
the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides analysis and retrieval resources for
the data in GenBank and other biological data made available through the NCBI web site.[27]

Types

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Deoxyribonucleic acid

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Main article: DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid containing the genetic instructions used in the
development and functioning of all known living organisms. The chemical DNA was discovered in 1869,
but its role in genetic inheritance was not demonstrated until 1943. The DNA segments that carry this
genetic information are called genes. Other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in
regulating the use of this genetic information. Along with RNA and proteins, DNA is one of the three
major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life. DNA consists of two long polymers
of monomer units called nucleotides, with backbones made of sugars and phosphate groups joined by
ester bonds. These two strands are oriented in opposite directions to each other and are, therefore,
antiparallel. Attached to each sugar is one of four types of molecules called nucleobases (informally,
bases). It is the sequence of these four nucleobases along the backbone that encodes genetic
information. This information specifies the sequence of the amino acids within proteins according to the
genetic code. The code is read by copying stretches of DNA into the related nucleic acid RNA in a process
called transcription. Within cells, DNA is organized into long sequences called chromosomes. During cell
division these chromosomes are duplicated in the process of DNA replication, providing each cell its own
complete set of chromosomes. Eukaryotic organisms (animals, plants, fungi, and protists) store most of
their DNA inside the cell nucleus and some of their DNA in organelles, such as mitochondria or
chloroplasts. In contrast, prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) store their DNA only in the cytoplasm.
Within the chromosomes, chromatin proteins such as histones compact and organize DNA. These
compact structures guide the interactions between DNA and other proteins, helping control which parts
of the DNA are transcribed.[citation needed]

Ribonucleic acid

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Main article: RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) functions in converting genetic information from genes into the amino acid
sequences of proteins. The three universal types of RNA include transfer RNA (tRNA), messenger RNA
(mRNA), and ribosomal RNA (rRNA). Messenger RNA acts to carry genetic sequence information
between DNA and ribosomes, directing protein synthesis and carries instructions from DNA in the
nucleus to ribosome . Ribosomal RNA reads the DNA sequence, and catalyzes peptide bond formation.
Transfer RNA serves as the carrier molecule for amino acids to be used in protein synthesis, and is
responsible for decoding the mRNA. In addition, many other classes of RNA are now known.[citation
needed]

Artificial nucleic acid

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Main article: Nucleic acid analogue

Artificial nucleic acid analogues have been designed and synthesized.[28] They include peptide nucleic
acid, morpholino- and locked nucleic acid, glycol nucleic acid, and threose nucleic acid. Each of these is
distinguished from naturally occurring DNA or RNA by changes to the backbone of the molecules.
[citation needed]