BY1.

6 Nucleic acids
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1 DNA = Deoxyribonucleic acid; RNA = Ribonucleic acid

2 Nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are polymers made up of smaller units called nucleotides

3
Nucleotides themselves are made up from a phosphate group, a pentose sugar (deoxyribose in DNA or ribose in RNA) plus an
nitrogenous base (an organic base which contains nitrogen). These three components are linked into a single nucleotide unit
by condensation reactions

4
Nitrogenous bases in DNA include Adenine (A), Thymine (T), Cytosine (C) or Guanine (G). There is no thymine in RNA this is
replaced by Uracil (U)

5 Nitrogenous bases are either purines or pyrimidines

6 Purines have a double-ring structure and include Adenine and Guanine

7 Pyrimidines have a single ring structure and include thymine, cytosine and uracil

8 Nucleotides are linked into long polymers (polynucleotide chains) by condensation reactions

9 DNA consists of two chains linked between the base pairs by hydrogen bonds, to form a double helix

10 RNA consists of a single chain

11 There are three types of RNA: messanger RNA (mRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA) and ribosomal RNA (rRNA)

12
mRNA is made in the nucleolus inside the nucleus and is responsible for transferring the genetic information out of the
nucleus to the ribosomes (DNA can not move out of the nucleus)
13 tRNA is responsible for transferring amino acids to the ribosomes for making new proteins

14 rRNA is responsible for forming the ribosomes (the ribosomes are made of a mix of rRNA and proteins)

15 In DNA the base pairings are Cytosine to Guanine and Adenine to Thymine, but in RNA thymine is replaced by uracil

16
DNA has two major functions: replication in dividing cells and carrying the genetic information (genetic code) for synthesis of
new proteins in all cells
17 Replication allows accurate copying of DNA for cell division