Nucleic Acids Nucleic acids are compounds that contain: C, H, O, N, P Organic, or inorganic? Organic!!!

2 Types 1. DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid 2. RNA Ribonucleic acid

Deoxy what? The building block of DNA is called a nucleotide. Each nucleotide is composed of 3 things: 1) A 5-Carbon sugar 2) A phosphate group 3) A nitrogenous base

Sugar babies… In DNA, the 5 carbon sugar is called deoxyribose. HOCH 2 H H H H HOH O

Phosphate? The phosphate group (PO 4 ) looks like this: PO-O- O-O- O-O- O

Nitrogenous bases: Nitrogenous bases are organic compounds that contain… nitrogen!!! There are 4 nitrogenous bases: Adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine

Nitrogenous bases continued: Adenine always bonds with thymine. Guanine always bonds with cytosine. Or… A – T G – C

Putting it together… If you put it all together, you make DNA DNA looks like a ladder!!!

Nucleotide structure: Sugar Phosphate Nitrogenous base nucleotide

DNA structure: AT GC TA

DNA again… DNA is actually coiled into a double helix, or twisted ladder:

DNA’s job in a cell… DNA is what makes up our genetic information. Each cell in our body contains a copy of our entire DNA code (over 3 billion pairs of nucleotides!!!)

DNA once more… If we were to stretch our DNA out, it would be about 4 cm long, but because it twists up into a double helix, it can fit into our cells with no problem.

RNA!!! RNA is involved in protein synthesis.

Ribose vs Deoxyribose HOCH 2 H H H H OH O HOCH 2 H H H H HOH O Ribose Deoxyribose

Other differences? RNA is only a single strand…what is DNA? Double Helix In RNA, thymine (T) is replaced by uracil(U).