• DNA and RNA are nucleic acids:?polymers?that are made up of?many repeating units?(monomers) called?nucleotides
• Each nucleotide is formed from:
  • A?pentose sugar?(a sugar with 5 carbon atoms)
  • A nitrogen-containing?organic base
  • A?phosphate group

   

The basic structure of a nucleotide

DNA nucleotides

• The components of a DNA nucleotide are:
  • A?deoxyribose?sugar with?hydrogen?at the 2' position
  • A phosphate group
  • One of four nitrogenous bases - adenine (A), cytosine(C), guanine(G) or thymine(T)

   

RNA nucleotides

• The components of an RNA nucleotide are:
  • A?ribose?sugar with a?hydroxyl (OH) group?at the 2' position
  • A phosphate group
  • One of four nitrogenous bases - adenine (A), cytosine(C), guanine(G) or?uracil (U)

   

• The presence of the?2' hydroxyl group?makes?RNA more susceptible to hydrolysis
  • This is why DNA is the storage molecule and RNA is the transport molecule with a shorter molecular lifespan

   

An RNA nucleotide (top) compared with a DNA nucleotide (bottom)

Purines & pyrimidines

• The?nitrogenous base?molecules that are found in the nucleotides of DNA (A, T, C, G) and RNA (A, U, C, G) occur in?two structural forms:?purines?and?pyrimidines
• The bases?adenine?and?guanine?are?purines?– they have a?double ring structure
• The bases?cytosine,?thymine?and?uracil?are?pyrimidines?– they have a?single ring structure

The molecular structures of purines and pyrimidines are slightly different

Nucleotide Structure Table

• DNA and RNA are polymers (polynucleotides), meaning that they are made up of many nucleotides joined together in long chains
• Separate?nucleotides are joined together?via?condensation reactions
  • These condensation reactions occur between the?phosphate group?of one nucleotide and the?pentose sugar?of the next nucleotide

   

• A condensation reaction between two nucleotides forms a?phosphodiester bond
  • It is called a phosphodiester bond because it consists of a phosphate group and?two?ester bonds

   

• The chain of alternating phosphate groups and pentose sugars produced as a result of many phosphodiester bonds is known as the?sugar-phosphate backbone?(of the DNA or RNA molecule)
• As the?synthesis?of?polynucleotides?requires the?formation?of?phosphodiester bonds, the same is true for the reverse process: the?breakdown?of polynucleotides requires the?breakage?of phosphodiester bonds

A section of a single polynucleotide strand showing a phosphodiester bond (and the positioning of the two ester bonds and the phosphate group that make up the phosphodiester bond)