Tiny things in you hold secrets.
They are like books. They tell your body how to grow. They tell your body how to work. These books help all living things. Do you want to learn more?
Tiny things in you hold secrets.
These things are called nucleic acids. They act like tiny books. They carry instructions for all living things.
They tell cells how to grow and work.
There are two main kinds. One is called DNA. The other is called RNA. DNA is often shaped like a long ladder. RNA is usually just one single chain.
These chains are made of small parts. Each part has a sugar and a base. The order of the bases is very important. This order is like a code.
This code helps make proteins. Proteins do many jobs in your body. This happens in every living cell.
All life on Earth uses these special codes. They are very important for every living thing.
Nucleic acids are big molecules found in all life. They carry the instructions for how living things grow and work. These molecules are made of small parts called nucleotides.
Each nucleotide has three parts. It has a sugar, a phosphate group, and a base.
There are two main types of nucleic acids. The first is DNA. DNA is often a double strand. It looks like a twisting ladder. The second type is RNA. RNA is usually a single strand. These two types use different sugars. DNA uses deoxyribose. RNA uses ribose. They also use different bases. DNA has a base called thymine. RNA has a base called uracil. Both use adenine, cytosine, and guanine.
A scientist named Friedrich Miescher first found these in 1869. He called them nuclein. Today, we know they are very important. DNA holds the code for genes. RNA helps turn that code into proteins. Proteins do many jobs in your body. This process happens in every living cell on Earth.
Nucleic acids are huge molecules found in all living things. They are very important because they carry instructions in cells. These instructions help life grow and work. Every life-form on Earth uses them to store and send information. This includes bacteria, plants, and even viruses.
Without these molecules, cells would not know how to function. They are the foundation for much of modern medical research.
These molecules work by using small building blocks called nucleotides. Each nucleotide has three specific parts. It has a sugar, a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous base. These nucleotides link together in a long chain. The sugars and phosphates form a backbone for the molecule. The bases stick out from this backbone like steps on a ladder.
The specific order of these bases is what creates the code.
Scientists have been studying these molecules for a long time. Friedrich Miescher first discovered a substance he called nuclein in 1869. He worked at the University of Tübingen in Germany. Later, Albrecht Kossel found the bases in the early 1880s. Richard Altmann created the name "nucleic acid" in 1889. In 1953, Watson and Crick proposed the famous double-helix shape for DNA.
These discoveries helped us understand how life is passed down.
There are two main types of nucleic acids. The first is DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA uses a sugar called deoxyribose and has the base thymine. It usually forms two strands that twist together. The second type is RNA, or ribonucleic acid. RNA uses a sugar called ribose and has the base uracil.
While DNA stores the main code, RNA helps turn that code into proteins. Both types use the bases adenine, cytosine, and guanine.
You can think of nucleic acids like a giant library. DNA is like the master book that stays safe in the library. It holds all the permanent instructions for building a living thing. RNA is like a photocopy of one page from that book. The photocopy carries the instructions to a workshop to make something new. This new thing is a protein.
This way, the master book stays safe while the work gets done.
Nucleic acids are massive, essential biomolecules found in all living cells and viruses. They act as the primary carriers of biological information. These molecules create, encode, and store the instructions necessary for every life-form on Earth. This includes complex organisms like humans, simple bacteria, and even viruses.
By carrying specific sequences, nucleic acids direct the chemical processes that sustain life. They are classified as polynucleotides, which are long chains made of repeating units.
Each individual unit in these chains is called a nucleotide. A nucleotide consists of three distinct chemical parts. First, it contains a five-carbon sugar, also known as a pentose sugar. Second, it has a phosphate group, which gives the molecule its acidic properties. Third, it includes a nitrogenous base, often simply called a base. These nucleotides connect through phosphodiester linkages. The sugars and phosphates form an alternating backbone. The bases attach to the sugars via an N-glycosidic linkage. This structure creates a sequence that functions as a biological code.
There are two primary classes of nucleic acids: deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). The difference between them begins with the sugar used in the nucleotide. DNA uses a sugar called deoxyribose. RNA uses a sugar called ribose. The two molecules also use different sets of nitrogenous bases. Both DNA and RNA share adenine, cytosine, and guanine. However, DNA contains a unique base called thymine. RNA uses a different base called uracil instead.
DNA and RNA perform very different roles within a cell. DNA serves as the master storage for genetic instructions. These instructions are organized into segments called genes. In eukaryotic organisms, such as plants and animals, most DNA stays inside the cell nucleus. It is often organized into long, linear structures called chromosomes. During cell division, the cell undergoes DNA replication to copy these chromosomes. This ensures every new cell has a complete set of instructions.
RNA is responsible for converting those genetic instructions into functional proteins. There are three main types of RNA involved in this process. Messenger RNA, or mRNA, carries the genetic code from the DNA to the ribosomes. Ribosomal RNA, or rRNA, reads the sequence and helps build the protein. Transfer RNA, or tRNA, acts as a carrier for amino acids. These amino acids are the building blocks used to assemble the final protein. Through this process, the code in the DNA is expressed as physical traits.
The history of nucleic acid research is a journey of many discoveries. In 1869, the Swiss scientist Friedrich Miescher discovered a substance he called "nuclein" at the University of Tübingen. In the early 1880s, Albrecht Kossel purified this substance and identified the nucleobases. Richard Altmann later coined the term "nucleic acid" in 1889. In 1938, Astbury and Bell produced the first X-ray diffraction pattern of DNA. Later, the Avery–MacLeod–McCarty experiment proved DNA carries genetic information. Finally, in 1953, Watson and Crick proposed the famous double-helix structure.
Nucleic acids vary greatly in size and shape. DNA molecules are likely the largest individual molecules known to science. For example, a single human chromosome 1 contains 247 million base pairs. While DNA is usually a double-stranded helix, RNA is typically single-stranded. However, some viruses have genomes made of double-stranded RNA. The physical shape of these molecules is vital to their function. Double-stranded DNA forms a uniform helix with a diameter of about 20 Å. In contrast, single-stranded RNA can fold into complex three-dimensional shapes. These molecules are the foundation for modern biotechnology, forensics, and pharmaceutical industries.
Where will your curiosity go next?
🖼️ Images & Media (2)
More to explore
✨ What else?
Related topics you might enjoy
What is Nepedia?
A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.