Nucleic Acids and Nucleotides Quiz

Nucleic Acid Composition

• The monomer components of nucleotides are a sugar molecule, a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous base.
• Ribose is the sugar component of RNA (ribonucleic acid).

Functions and Characteristics

• Nucleic acids play a crucial role in cells as they contain genetic information necessary for the development and function of an organism.
• The primary composition of the backbone of nucleic acids is a sugar-phosphate molecule.

RNA and DNA Structure

• RNA usually forms a chain of single bases.
• Hydrogen bonds between complementary nitrogenous bases give RNA and DNA their 'ladder-step' order of nucleotides within their molecules.

History and Discovery

• Friedrich Miescher discovered nucleic acid in 1869 at the University of Tübingen, Germany.
• The term synonymous with polynucleotide is nucleic acid.
• James Watson and Francis Crick proposed the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953.

Key Facts

• The bases found in RNA and DNA are adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T) in DNA, and uracil (U) in place of thymine in RNA.
• Nucleic acids were first discovered in pus cells.
• The basic components of biological nucleic acids are sugar molecules, phosphate groups, and nitrogenous bases.
• The Avery–MacLeod–McCarty experiment in 1944 showed that DNA is the carrier of genetic information.
• The overall name for DNA and RNA is nucleic acids.