UNIT+5+NUCLEIC+ACIDS


 * __media type="custom" key="838545"media type="custom" key="835757"

NUCLEIC ACIDS

__ ** **__DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid):__ an extremely long macromolecule that is the main component of chromosomes and is the material that transfers genetic characteristics in all life forms, constructed of two nucleotide strands coiled around each other in a ladder like arrangement with the sidepieces composed of alternating phosphate and deoxyribose units and the rungs composed of the purine and pyrimidine bases adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine: the genetic information of DNA is encoded in the sequence of the bases and is transcribed as the strands unwind and replicate.**  [|DNA]

Functions: Transcription & Translation: The relationship between the nucleotide sequences of genes and the amino-acid sequences of proteins is determined by the rules of translation. Also known as the Genetic Code. __Replication:__ Te process of c ell division. The DNA b ecomes a double stranded structure. Then e ach strand's complementary DNA sequence is recreated by an enzyme called DNA polymerase. This enzyme makes the complementary strand by finding the correct base through complementary base pairing, and bonding it onto the original strands. 

DNA Forensics/DNA Testing Genetic Engineering History and Anthropology
 * __Importance:__**

 RNA (ribonucleic acid): any of a class of single-stranded molecules transcribed from DNA in the cell nucleus or in the mitochondrion or chloroplast, containing along the strand a linear sequence of nucleotide bases that is complementary to the DNA strand from which it is transcribed: the composition of the RNA molecule is identical with that of DNA except for the substitution of the sugar ribose for deoxyribose and the substitution of the nucleotide base uracil.