Nucleic Acids: Introduction

Arel R. Relox, RMT, MLS(ASCPi)CM

Friedrich Miescher in 1869
 isolated what he called nuclein from the nuclei of
pus cells
 Nuclein was shown to have acidic properties,
hence it became called nucleic acid

© 2007 Paul Billiet ODWS

 Timeline, People and Their
Accomplishments
• Gregor Mendel (heredity)
• Thomas Hunt Morgan (flies, linkage)
• Frederick Griffith (1928: transformation and mice)
• Oswald Theodore Avery, Colin MacLeod and Maclyn
McCarty (1944: DNA as the transforming agent)
• Erwin Chargaff (late 40’s-early 50’s: base pairing=AT
CG)
• Alfred Hershey-Martha Chase (1952: DNA is not a protein)
• Watson and Crick (1953: chemical structure of DNA)
• Meselson-Stahl (mid 1950’s: DNA Replication details)
Watson and Crick
CHROMOSOMES AND GENES
Chromosome
Structure in the cell nucleus thought to be the
carrier of genetic information

Gene
Portion of a chromosome that controlled a
specific inheritable trait
Nucleotides and Nucleic acids
Nucleotide
COMPOSITION OF NUCLEIC ACIDS

Nucleic Acids
Polymers
Polynucleotides

Part of Nucleotide
A five-membered ring monosaccharide
A nitrogen-containing cyclic compound
A phosphate group
 COMPOSITION OF NUCLEIC ACIDS

Types of Nucleic Acids

DNA
RNA

SUGARS
DNA – 2-deoxyribose (2-deoxy means that an
oxygen atom is missing from the C2 position of
ribose
RNA – ribose
COMPOSITION OF NUCLEIC ACIDS

BASES
Purine (2)
Contains two-fused nitrogen-containing ring
Adenine
Guanine
Pyrimidine (3)
Has one nitrogen-containing ring
Cytosine
Thymine
Uracil
COMPOSITION OF NUCLEIC ACIDS

SUGAR + BASE = NUCLEOSIDE

Sugar and the base are connected by a bond
between one of the nitrogen atoms in a ring and
the sugar’s 1st carbon atom

β-N-glycosidic acid – the bond connecting

the sugar and the base
COMPOSITION OF NUCLEIC ACIDS

NUCLEOSIDE + PHOSPHATE = NUCLEOTIDE

Nucleotides – are the building blocks of

nucleic acids
Monomers of the DNA and RNA polymers
Each nucleotide is a 5’-monophosphate
ester of a nucleoside
Are named by adding 5’-monophosphate at
the end of the name of the nucleoside
RIBONUCLEOTIDE
DEOXYRIBONUCLEOTIDE
 COMPOSITION OF NUCLEIC ACIDS

Nucleotides
Can add additional phosphate groups to
form diphosphate or triphosphate esters
 DNA
BASES DEOXYRIBONUCLEOSIDES DEOXYRIBONUCLEOTIDES

ADENINE (A) Deoxyadenosine 5’-

Deoxyadenosine Monophosphate (dAMP)

GUANINE (G) Deoxyguanosine 5’-

Deoxyguanosine Monophosphate (dGMP)

CYTOSINE (C) Deoxycytidine 5’-Monophosphate

Deoxycytosine (dCMP)

THYMINE (T) Deoxythymidine 5’-

Deoxythymosine Monophosphate (dTMP)
 RNA
BASES RIBONUCLEOSIDES RIBONUCLEOTIDES

ADENINE (A) Adenosine 5’-Monophosphate

Adenosine (AMP)

GUANINE (G) Guanosine 5’-Monophosphate

Guanosine (GMP)

CYTOSINE (C) Cytidine 5’-Monophosphate (CMP)

Cytidine

URACIL (U) Uridine 5’-Monophosphate (UMP)

Uridine
STRUCTURE OF DNA AND RNA
Primary Structure
Alternating deoxyribose
and phosphate group
backbone of the molecule
Phosphate group is linked
to the 3’ carbon of one
deoxyribose unit and
simultaneously to the 5’
carbon of the next
deoxyribose unit
STRUCTURE OF DNA AND RNA
Secondary Structure
James Watson and Francis
Crick
Based on the following:
Chargaff Rule that (A and T)
and (G and C) are present in
equimolar quantities
X-ray diffraction photographs
obtained by Rosalind Franklin
and Maurice Wilkins
STRUCTURE OF DNA AND RNA
Secondary Structure
Double Helix
The 2 polynucleotide
chains run in opposite
directions
One 5’ – OH and one 3’ –
OH terminal
Bases are hydrophobic
Sugar-phosphate
backbone is exposed to
the aqueous
environment
STRUCTURE OF DNA AND RNA
Secondary Structure
Chargaff’s Rule
For each A on one chain, a T is aligned opposite
it on the other chain
G–C
The bases so paired form H bonds with each
other, 2 for A-T and 3 for G-C (complementary
base pairs)
STRUCTURE OF DNA AND RNA
Higher Structure
DNA in the nuclei is not stretched out, but
rather coiled around basic protein
molecules called histones
The acidic DNA and the basic histones attract
each other by electrostatic (ionic) forces,
combining to form units called nucleosomes
In a nucleosome, 8 histones form a core,
around which a 147-base pair DNA double helix
is wound
STRUCTURE OF DNA AND RNA
• Higher Structure
– HISTONES
• Basic protein to w/c the
DNA is coiled around

– NUCLEOSOMES
• acidic DNA + basic
histones
• attract each other by
electrostatic (ionic) forces
STRUCTURE OF DNA AND RNA
DNA
Is almost always double-stranded (helical
structure
2’-deoxyribose

RNA
Single-stranded
Ribose