THE NUCLEIC ACIDS

The nucleic acids are the building blocks of living organisms. You may have heard of DNA described the same way. Guess what? DNA is just one type of nucleic acid. Some other types are RNA, mRNA, and tRNA. All of these "NA's" work together to help cells replicate and build proteins. NA? Hold on. Might that stand for nucleic acid? It might.

THE BASICS

We already told you about the biggie nucleic acids (DNA, RNA, mRNA, tRNA). They are actually made up chains of base pairs stretching from only a few to millions. When those pairs combine in super long chains (DNA), they make a shape called a double helix. The double helix shape is like a twisty ladder. The base pairs are the rungs. We're very close to talking about the biology of cells here. Back to the chemistry….

FIVE EASY PIECES

There are five easy parts of nucleic acids. All nucleic acids are made up of the same building blocks (monomers). Chemists call the monomers nucleotides. The five pieces are Uracil, Cytosine, Thymine, Adenine, and Guanine. Just as there are twenty (20) amino acids needed by humans to survive, there are five (5) nucleotides.

These nucleotides are made of three parts.
1. A five carbon sugar
2. A base that has a nitrogen (N) atom
3. An ion of phosphoric acid

RELATED LINKS

- Biology4Kids: Scientific Method
- Biology4Kids: Cell Structure
- Geography4Kids: Carbon Cycle
- Geography4Kids: Biosphere

-	Overview
-	Metabolism
-	Cycles
-	Carbohydrates
-	Lipids
>	Nucleic Acids
-	DNA
-	Amino Acid Structure
-	20 Amino Acids
-	Proteins
-	Enzymes
-	Enz. Regulation
	MORE CHEMISTRY TOPICS

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