BIOMOLECULES AND

CELLS: BIO 111

Mr. Derrick Banda MSc, BSc
NUCLEIC ACIDS
 Introduction
• A nucleic acid is a polymer in which the monomer
units are called nucleotides.

 There are two Types of Nucleic Acids:

• DNA: Deoxyribonucleic Acid: Found within cell
nucleus, used for storing and transferring of genetic
information that are passed from one cell to another
during cell division.

• RNA: Ribonucleic Acid: Occurs in all parts of cell

serving the primary function of synthesizing the
proteins needed for cell functions.
 Introduction
• Nucleic acid carry hereditary (genetic) material which
determine the characteristic of living organisms such as
height, skin complexion, eye colour etc.

• The double-helix DNA contains the genetic information

necessary to guide synthesis of all the proteins in a cell and
thus allow the continuity of life.

• The genetic information in a DNA is written in a triplet code

(sequence of three bases).

• These three letter codes of nucleotides (AUG, AAA, etc.) are

called codons.

• Individual codons represent specific amino acids.

 Introduction
• The DNA Double Helix. DNA consists of two α-
helical polynucleotide strands intertwined to form a
double helix.

• RNA Polynucleotides. RNA molecules are single

stranded and there are several different types including;
1. Messenger RNA (mRNA)
2. Transfer RNA (tRNA)
3. Ribosomal RNA (rRNA)

• All RNAs participate in the assemblage of amino

acids to form different types of proteins
 Components of a Nucleotide
• DNA and RNA are made up of building units
(monomers) known as nucleotide.
• Nucleotide then combine to form a long chain called
polynucleotide.

• DNA monomers are called deoxyribonucleotides,

and RNA monomers are called ribonucleotides.
• Both types of nucleotides contain;
1.Nitrogenous base
2.Five-carbon (Pentose) sugar molecule
3.Phosphate group
 Components of a Nucleotide
1. NITROGEN BASE
• Two (2) types of Nitrogenous bases in nucleotides.
1. Purines, they are large, double-ring molecules

2. Pyrimidines, are smaller, single-ring molecules.

• Pyrimidines include cytosine (C, in both DNA and
RNA), thymine (T, in DNA only), and uracil (U, in
RNA only). Purines are adenine (A) and guanine(G).
2 . PENTOSE SUGARS
• There are two types of pentose sugars which make up a
nucleotide: Ribose in RNA. Deoxyribose in DNA
• RNA molecules contain ribose sugars in which the number
2 carbon is bonded to a hydroxyl group. In DNA, this
hydroxyl group is replaced by a hydrogen atom.
3. PHOSPHATE GROUP
• A phosphate group (PO42-) gives the nucleotide its
acidic characteristic.
Components of Nucleic Acids
 Formation of a nucleotide and nucleoside
• The portion of the nucleotide containing just the
sugar and nitrogenous base is called a nucleoside.
Formation of a nucleotide and nucleoside
• A combination of a pentose sugar with one of
the four bases is called a nucleoside.

• The pentose sugar is linked to a nitrogenous

base through a beta glycosidic bond and
involves removal of water.
• A phosphate group is joined to the
nucleoside through a phospodiester bond to
form a nucleotide.
NUCLEOTIDE
• Nucleotide subunit of a nucleic acid contains a
phosphate group, a sugar component, and a
nitrogenous base.

• The base is attached to carbon 1’ of the pentose sugar

and phosphate is attached to carbon 5’.
 Formation of Polynucleotide
Primary Nucleic Acid Structure
• DNA and RNA are made up of building units
(monomers) known as nucleotide.

• Repeated combination (condensation) of nucleotide

molecules leads to formation of long chain called
polynucleotide.

• In polynucleotides, nucleotides are joined to one

another by covalent bonds between the phosphate
of one nucleotide and the sugar of another. These
linkages are called phosphodiester linkages.
 Formation of Phosphodiester linkage
• The 5′ carbon phosphate of an incoming
nucleotide attaches to the 3′ carbon hydroxyl of a
pentose sugar on a growing chain to form a 3’-5’
phosphodiester linkage (bridge).
 Sugar phosphate backbone
• Phosphodiester linkages form the sugar-phosphate
backbone of both DNA and RNA.
 Sugar phosphate backbone
• The nucleotide bases are on the interior of the two
strands, with a sugar-phosphate backbone on the
outside:
Example of a polynucleotide in DNA
• In DNA, A, C, G, and T are linked by 3’-5’ ester
bonds between deoxyribose and phosphate.
 Reading a polynucleotide Structure
• A nucleic acid polymer has a
free 5’-phosphate group at
one end and a free 3’-OH
group at the other end

• The sequence is read from the

free 5’-end using the letters of
the bases

• This example reads

5’—A—C—G—T—3’
Polynucleotides of RNA and DNA
 The DNA Double Helix
• In 1953 James Watson and his British colleague
Francis Crick discovered the double helix
structure of DNA.

• For this fundamental finding James, Francis and

Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize
for Physiology or Medicine in 1962.
 The DNA Double Helix
• DNA is a double helix made up of two antiparallel
(the two strands run in opposite directions)
polynucleotide chains.

• The two chains are joined by hydrogen bonds

between the nucleotide bases, which pair
specifically:

 Adenine (A) pairs with thymine (T) by forming two

hydrogen bonds.

 Guanine (G) pairs with cytosine (C) by forming three

hydrogen bonds.
 The DNA Double Helix
The base-pairing rules are rigid in Nucleic acids;
• Adenine can pair only with thymine, and

• Cytosine can pair only with guanine in DNA.

Anti-parallel orientation of a DNA duplex,
phosphodiester backbone, and base pairing
 The DNA Double Helix
Structure of the DNA double strands
• DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a double-stranded
molecule that is twisted into a helix like a spiral staircase.

• The hydrogen bonds hold the two chains together as a

duplex.
The two DNA strands are complementary
Chargaff’s rule
• In almost all DNA, the following rule holds:
The amount of adenine equals the amount of
thymine (A = T), and the amount of guanine
equals the amount of cytosine (G = C).

• As a result, the total abundance of purines

(A + G) equals the total abundance of
pyrimidines (T + C).
 The DNA Double Helix
The base-pairing rules are rigid in Nucleic acids;
• Adenine can pair only with thymine, and

• Cytosine can pair only with guanine in DNA.

The two DNA strands are complementary
• A G in one strand will always be paired with a C in
the other. Similarly an A will always pair with a T.
• The DNA stores genetic information that can either be
copied (replicated) or transcribed into RNA. RNA
can then be translated into protein.

• In 1958, Francis Crick described this process as “the

central dogma of molecular biology.”
 The RNA
• RNA is generally single-stranded molecule.
• RNA (ribonucleic acid) is a key intermediary between
a DNA sequence and a polypeptide (Protein).

• RNA has a chemical structure similar to that of DNA,

but there are two major differences.
1. The sugar in RNA is ribose instead of deoxyribose.

2. RNA contains the two purine bases adenine and

guanine and the pyrimidine cytosine, the fourth base
is different. The pyrimidine bases uracil (U) replaces
thymine.
 The Chemical structure of RNA
• The RNA is a single stranded molecule, which uses
ribose as the sugar in its sugar-phosphate backbone,
and utilizes uracil in place of thymine.
 Types of RNA
• RNAs are more varied than their DNA cousin.

• Created by copying regions of DNA, cellular RNAs

are synthesized as single strands, but they often
have self-complementary regions leading to
“foldbacks” containing duplex regions.

• The foldbacks are most easily visualized in the

ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) and transfer RNAs
(tRNAs)
 Types of RNA
There are three main types of RNA;

1.Messenger (mRNA)

2.Transfer RNA (tRNA)

3.Ribosomal RNA (rRNA)

 Hydrogen Bonding in RNA
• Single-stranded RNA folds itself, hydrogen bonds
between complementary sequences stabilizes it
into three-dimensional shapes with complicated
surface characteristics.
 1. Messenger (mRNA)
• mRNA carries a copy of a gene sequence in DNA
to the site of protein synthesis at the ribosome.
• mRNA Consist of a single strand of polynucleotide
chain.
 Codons
• mRNA is read in set of three bases known as
Codons.
• Each codon codes for a single amino acid.
 2. Transfer RNA (tRNA)
• Transfer RNA are single polynucleotide molecule
that act as temporary carrier of amino acids,
bringing the appropriate amino acids to the
ribosomes  based on the messenger RNA
nucleotide sequence.
 Structure of Transfer RNA
• RNA polynucleotide forms a twisted helix with parallel
nucleotide base sequence pairing up and attached by
hydrogen bonds.
• In tRNA, bases that do not to form base pairs create
three loops; D loop, anticodon loop and T loop.
• The tRNA has four arms of nucleotide base
sequence. (The Anticondon arm, acceptor arm,
DHU arm and T arm)
The four arms tRNA
 Base pairing on RNA molecules (both
mRNA and tRNA) is;
• Adenine (A) pairing with Uracil (U)
• Guanine (G) pairs with Cytocine (C)
 3. Ribosomal RNA (rRNA)
• Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) is the major constituent of
ribosome on which the mRNA binds.

• Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) catalyzes peptide bond

formation and provides a structural framework for
the ribosome.

• The transcribed message carried by the mRNA is

translated on the ribosome by rRNA to protein.
 Ribosomal rRNA is made up of two subunits
• A large 60S subunit and a small 40S subunit for
Eukaryotic cells, while large 50S subunit and a
small 30S subunit for prokaryotic cells.

• These subunit stay apart but when translation begins

they come together.
END OF LECTURE!
THANK YOU.