Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of nucleic acids. Nucleic acids are polynucleotide chains in which ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides are the monomeric units of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), respectively. Nucleotides are composed of three component parts: a heterocyclic ring structure, a pentose sugar, and a phosphate group, each of which contributes to the chemistry of the unit. Identification of the component pentose sugar confirms whether the polynucleotide chain is RNA or DNA. Both RNA and DNA contain the same two purine bases, adenine (A) and guanine (G) whereas they differ in their content of the pyrimidine bases. The size of DNA varies according to its source. With the exception of single-stranded DNA viruses, DNA occurs as a double-helical (duplex) molecule. DNA can assume different forms called A-DNA, B-DNA, C-DNA, D–DNA, and Z-DNA (zigzag), depending upon their chemical microenvironment. In RNA viruses, RNA serves as a genetic material. More commonly, the sole function of RNA resides within the process of protein synthesis. There are three main forms of RNA called messenger RNA (mRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), and ribosomal RNA (rRNA). The chapter also reviews some properties of nucleic acids.
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