PROJECT FILE

BIOLOGY

TOPIC: NUCLEIC ACID

NAME: KRUSHANG MEWADA

ROLL NO. 62
STD: 11 SCIENCE BIO
DIVIN GURUKULAM
 ABOUT DISCOVERY

Nucleic acids were discovered in 1868, when

twenty-four-year-old Swiss physician Friedrich
Miescher isolated a new compound from the
nuclei of white blood cells.
Miescher recognised that he had discovered a
novel molecule.

Friedrich Miescher [13 August 1844 – 26 August 1895]

 STRUCTURE

Nucleic acids are polynucleotides—that is, long

chainlike molecules composed of a series of
nearly identical building blocks called
nucleotides. Each nucleotide consists of a
nitrogen-containing aromatic base attached to a
pentose (five-carbon) sugar, which is in turn
attached to a phosphate group.
WHY NUCLEIC ACID IS A
BIOMOLECULE AND IF THEN
WHY IS IT ACIDIC IN
NATURE?
The fourth group of biomolecules are the
nucleic acids. Nucleic acids are made of carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and phosphorous
atoms thus it is a biomolecule. The acidity
comes from the phosphate groups used in
forming DNA and RNA molecules. These
phosphate groups are quite similar to
phosphoric acid. The only difference there is
the replacement of two of the protons from the
phosphoric acid with protons from the sugar
molecules of the nucleotide. This leaves only one
remaining proton, which is very acidic. That
easily-lost proton is what causes nucleus acid to
be so acidic.
 FORMS OF NUCLEIC ACID

Nucleic acids come in two natural forms called

deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic
acid (RNA).
ROLE OF NUCLEIC ACID
They play an especially important role in
directing protein synthesis, carry genetic
information which is read in cells to make the
RNA and proteins by which living things
function.
Nucleotides
DNA and RNA are polymers (in the case of DNA, often
very long polymers), and are made up of monomers
known as nucleotides. When these monomers combine,
the resulting chain is called a polynucleotide (poly- =
"many"). Each nucleotide is made up of three parts: a
nitrogen-containing ring structure called a nitrogenous
base, a five-carbon sugar, and at least one phosphate
group. The sugar molecule has a central position in the
nucleotide, with the base attached to one of its carbons
and the phosphate group (or groups) attached to
another. Let’s look at each part of a nucleotide in turn.
 COMPONENTS

1.Sugars= In addition to having slightly different sets of

bases, DNA and RNA nucleotides also have slightly
different sugars. The five-carbon sugar in DNA is
called deoxyribose, while in RNA, the sugar is ribose.
These two are very similar in structure, with just one
difference: the second carbon of ribose bears a hydroxyl
group, while the equivalent carbon of deoxyribose has a
hydrogen instead. 

2.Phosphate= Nucleotides may have a single phosphate

group, or a chain of up to three phosphate groups,
attached to the 5’ carbon of the sugar. Some chemistry
sources use the term “nucleotide” only for the single-
phosphate case. In a cell, a nucleotide about to be added
to the end of a polynucleotide chain will bear a series of
three phosphate groups. When the nucleotide joins the
growing DNA or RNA chain, it loses two phosphate
groups. So, in a chain of DNA or RNA, each nucleotide
has just one phosphate group.
3.Polynucleotide chains= A polynucleotide chain is
composed of monomers of nucleotide molecules. Every
monomer has three sections, namely a pentose sugar, a
nitrogenous base and a phosphate group. It nitrogenous
product as bases which are adenine, cytosine, guanine
and thymine or uracil.

HIGHLIGHT

Nucleic acids are large biomolecules that play

essential roles in all cells and viruses. A major
function of nucleic acids involves the storage and
expression of genomic information.
Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, encodes the
information cells need to make proteins. A related
type of nucleic acid, called ribonucleic acid
(RNA), comes in different molecular forms that
play multiple cellular roles, including protein
synthesis. 
 BIBLOGRAPHY

1. NATIONAL HUMAN GEMON RESEARCH INSTITUTE

2. BYJUS.COM
3. BRITANNICA
4. THOUGHT CO.
 .T H A N K Y O U.

INDEX
Page no. Part of the
topic
1..................................................... ABOUT
DISCOVERY
2.....................................................................
STRUCTURE
3...........WHY NUCLEIC ACID IS
BIOMOLECULE?
4.......................................... FORMS OF NUCLEC
ACID
5............................................. ROLE OF
NUCLEIC ACID
6.........................................................................
DNA vs RNA
7..................................................................
NUCLEOTIDES
8..................................................................
COMPONENTS
9........................................... HIGHLIGHT OF
PROJECT
10................................................................
BIBLOGRAPHY