2.

7 Nucleic acids

Nucleic acids
Types of nucleic acids:

Ribonucleic acids
(RNA) (核糖核酸)

Deoxyribonucleic acids
(DNA) (脫氧核糖核酸)

Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  1 

2.7 Nucleic acids

Nucleic acids
• organic substances
• made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen
and phosphorus
• play important roles in
➢ heredity ➢ protein synthesis
• basic units : nucleotides (核苷酸)

Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  2 

2.7 Nucleic acids

Structure of a nucleotide

Phosphate group

Nitrogenous base
(含氮鹼基)

5-carbon sugar
DNA: deoxyribose (脫氧核糖)
RNA: ribose (核糖)
Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  3 
2.7 Nucleic acids

Structure of a nucleotide
Nitrogenous base
• five different bases
➢ adenine (A) (腺嘌呤)
➢ thymine (T) (胸腺嘧啶)
➢ guanine (G) (鳥嘌呤)
➢ cytosine (C) (胞嘧啶)
➢ uracil (U) (尿嘧啶)

Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  4 

2.7 Nucleic acids

Structure of a nucleotide
Nitrogenous base
• five different bases
➢ A, T, G and C appear in DNA
A T G C

➢ A, U, G and C appear in RNA

A U G C

Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  5 

2.7 Nucleic acids

Formation of a dinucleotide
• Two nucleotides may join to form a dinucleotide
(雙核苷酸)

5-carbon sugar

phosphate group

Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  6 

2.7 Nucleic acids

Formation of a dinucleotide
• Two nucleotides may join to form a dinucleotide
(雙核苷酸)

condensation

Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  7 

2.7 Nucleic acids

Formation of a polynucleotide
• many nucleotides condensed together to form a
polynucleotide (多核苷酸)

condensation
repeats many
times

dinucleotide polynucleotide
Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  8 
2.7 Nucleic acids

Formation of a polynucleotide

sugar-phosphate backbone
of the nucleic acid

Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  9 

2.7 Nucleic acids

DNA and RNA

RNA:
• consists of a single polynucleotide chain
DNA:
• consists of two polynucleotide chains
• coiled around each other to form a double helix

a base

Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  10 

2.7 Nucleic acids

Structure of DNA
a nucleotide

Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  11 

2.7 Nucleic acids

Structure of DNA
base pair

Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  12 

2.7 Nucleic acids

Structure of DNA
hydrogen bond

Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  13 

2.7 Nucleic acids

Structure of DNA
hydrogen bond

➢ formed between base pair

➢ hold two chains together
➢ keep the double helix stable

Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  14 

2.7 Nucleic acids

Structure of DNA
sugar-phosphate
backbone

Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  15 

2.7 Nucleic acids

1. There are two types of nucleic acids:

deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA) and ribonucleic
acids (RNA). The basic units of nucleic acids are
nucleotides . Each nucleotide has three
components: a five-carbon sugar, a nitrogenous
base and a phosphate group.

Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  16 

2.7 Nucleic acids

2. Nucleic acids play important roles in heredity

and protein synthesis.

Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  17 

2.7 Nucleic acids

Which of the following comparisons between DNA

and RNA is incorrect?
DNA RNA
A. consists of two consists of one
polynucleotide chains polynucleotide chain
B. does not contain contains phosphate
phosphate
C. contains deoxyribose contains ribose
D. contains thymine contains uracil B
Aristo 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7  18 