Nucleic acid

Nucleic acids allow the transfer of genetic information from generation to generation by means of DNA replication.

There are two types of nucleic acid:

1. DNA
2. RNA, (appears in several forms)

Nucleic acids have 3 main features:

1. Nitrogenous base.
2. 5 Carbon sugar.
3. Phosphate group.

The Nitrogenous group has 4 variants in DNA, these are:

1. Adenine (A)
2. Thymine (T)
3. Guanine (G)
4. Cytosine (C)

RNA substitutes Uracil for Thymine.

Adenine is complementary to Thymine and Guanine is complementary the Cytosine. Hydrogen bonds form between complementary bases of different nucleic acids. 2 hydrogen bonds form between A and T and 3 between G and C.

Covalent phosphodiester bonds form between the phosphate groups of neighbouring nucleic acids .