Question

can someone, break down nucleic acid structure and Dna structure real quick???

Answer 1

@Elise_a18

Answer 2

I know that the DNA is held with 2 Hydrogen bonds... but looking it up a little and it says that Purines and Pyrimidines are what the bases are made of.

Answer 3

SOrry I couldn't help more

Answer 4

lol it's ok

Answer 5

Nucleic acids (like DNA - deoxyribonucleic acid, or RNA - ribonucleic acid) are polymers. Polymers are very large molecules made of small repeating units. In the case of nucleic acids, these repeating units are called nucleotides.

The nucleotides are composed of 3 units: a base (there are two versions: purines and pyrimidines), a sugar, and a phosphate group. The sugar and phosphate components form the "backbone" of the nucleic acid polymer, while the base gives the nucleic acid unique properties and enables it to interact with other nucleic acid chains (e.g. through hydrogen bonding).

The 4 main bases we talk about are adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine (in DNA)/uracil (in RNA). The chemical structure of these bases enables specific hydrogen bonding, such that A typically bonds to T (or U) and G typically bonds to C. Many modifications can be made to these bases to alter their bonding properties, and sometimes there are ways for 3 bases to interact with one another at once...but this is good enough as a general rule. You may have heard the terms adenosine, guanosine, cytidine, and thymidine (and uridine) - these refer to the base-sugar combination, which are called nucleosides. This is one step below the nucleotides mentioned above, which include the phosphate group as well.

DNA specifically forms a double-helix structure when two separate strands of DNA hydrogen bond with one another. This physical shape has implications for the types of interactions the molecule can have within a cell.

This is a pretty general overview, but if you have any other questions I'm happy to answer them!

Answer 6

DNA is made up of molecules called nucleotides. Each nucleotide contains a phosphate group, a sugar group and a nitrogen base. The four types of nitrogen bases are adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C). The order of these bases is what determines DNA's instructions, or genetic code.

Answer 7

This article might help you visualize the structures.
http://cyberbridge.mcb.harvard.edu/dna_1.html