Nucleic Acids

Nucleic Acids
Nucleic acids are complex substances of high molecular weight that are a fundamental part of life. The sequence of nitrogenous bases in these polymeric molecules encodes the genetic information necessary for biological inheritance. They store directions for the synthesis of enzymes and other proteins, and are the only molecules that can (with the help of the right enzymes) replicate themselves. The two kinds of nucleic acids in cells are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). They are polymers of repeated units called nucleotides, each containing a sugar, a nitrogenous base, and a phosphate group. Because the structure of nucleic acids is crucial to the mechanism of inheritance and protein synthesis, detailed information on nucleic acids is presented in Principles of Genetics:A Review.