________ are the individual building-block molecules that make up nucleic acids
The Chemistry of Carbon. Because individual carbon. atoms can form multiple covalent bonds, organic molecules. can be quite complex. 3.2 Proteins perform the chemistry of the cell. The Many Functions of Proteins. Proteins can be cata-. lysts, transporters, supporters, and regulators. Amino Acids Are the Building Blocks of Proteins. Proteins. are long chains of various combinations of amino acids. A Protein’s Function Depends on the Shape of the. Molecule. Amino acids[edit] Amino acids contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. (In biochemistry, the term amino acid is used when referring to those amino acids in which the amino and carboxylate functionalities are attached to the same carbon, plus proline which is not actually an amino acid). A nucleic acid is a long molecule made up of smaller molecules called nucleotides. Nucleic acids were discovered in 1868, when twenty-four-year-old Swiss physician Friedrich Miescher isolated a new compound from the nuclei of white blood cells. In DNA, the nucleotides are referred to in shorthand as A, C, T, and G. In RNA, the nucleotides are A, C, U, and G. The order, or sequence, of the nucleotides in DNA allows nucleic acid to encode an organism's genetic blueprint. Special-function amino acids have unique individual. properties; methionine often is the first amino acid in. a chain of amino acids, proline causes kinks in chains, and cysteine links chains together. Each amino acid affects the shape of a protein differently. depending on the chemical nature of its side group. Along with DNA, the other major type of nucleic acid in cells is ribonucleic acid (RNA). Both are shown in the above image, in single stranded form. DNA at on the top, and differs from RNA by its inclusion of thymine (T, in red), whereas RNA differs from DNA by its inclusion of uracil (U, yellow). Nucleic acids are macromolecules, which means they are molecules composed of many smaller molecular units. Nucleosides are molecules formed by attaching a nucleobase to a ribose or deoxyribose ring. Examples of these include cytidine (C), uridine (U), adenosine (A), guanosine (G), thymidine (T) and inosine (I). Nucleosides can be phosphorylated by specific kinases in the cell, producing nucleotides. Both DNA and RNA are polymers, consisting of long, linear molecules assembled by polymerase enzymes from repeating structural units, or monomers, of mononucleotides. A biomolecule or biological molecule is any molecule that is present in living organisms, including large macromolecules such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids, as well as small molecules such as primary metabolites, secondary metabolites, and natural products. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) are made up of nucleic acids found in the nuclei of living cells. They are the vehicles of genetic inheritance. Nucleic acids are condensation polymers of nucleotides. To understand their functions you will find it helpful to look at how their molecules are built up and the structures of these molecules. Three types of chemicals make up the building blocks for nucleic acids.
Nucleotides