CHEMISTRY OF NUCLEIC ACIDS

• Nucleoproteins – proteins + nucleic acid • Melting Point - @ Tm – 50% helix opened; ↓ Tm = renaturation
• Found in all animal and plant tissues
• DNA – polymers of nucleotides linked via phosphodiester bonds
• Long Range interaction between A and C
• Information carrying molecules or catalysts

Functions: Energy stores, Portions of coenzymes, Mediators / 2° messengers, Allosteric effects on

enzymes, Activated intermediates
RNA
Nucleic Acids
• ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), polynucleotides • tRNA – AA carriers
o clover-leaf 2° structure
• Nucleotide = phosphate ester linkage @ OH group with nucleoside = nitrogenous base + sugar
(ribose/deoxyribose) o 5’ terminal PO4 group, 3’ terminal OH (7 base pairs, AA stem)
• Nitrogenous Bases o D arm – dihydrouridine, loop
o Limited solubility in water o Anticodon arm – 5 base pairs, loop
o Exhibit tautomerism (keto or enol forms), keto mre stable o TψC arm – has pseudouridine
o Aromatic = absorbs UV • mRNA - translation
 Purines: adenine (A) / guanine (G) bases; numbering clockwise from 6 o’clock o 5’ end with 7-methyl guanlylic acid (5’ to 5’ triphosphate linkage)
o Polyadenylic tail
 Pyrimidines: thymine (T, DNA only) / cytosine (C) / uracil (U, RNA only); numbering
o Leader sequences and trailer sequences
counter-clockwise from 10 o clock, then clockwise from 1 o clock in smaller ring
o Eukaryotic mmRNA – monocistronic
• Sugars
o Ribose (for RNA) or deoxyribose (for DNA) • rRNA – ribosomal, for translation
o Connected via glycosidic linkage @ N1 Pyr + N9 Pur o multimolecular aggregates of protein and RNA
o heavy + light subunits
Nomeclature o Large (60S) = 28S, 5.8S, 5S
Base Nucleoside (-idine) Nucleotide ( phosphate / -ylic acid) o Light (40S) = 18S
Uracil Uridine Uridine Phosphate / uridylic acid • small nuclear RNA
Cytosine Cytidine Cytidine Phosphate / cytidylic acid o highly conserved, 60-300 nucleotides
Thymine Thymidine Thymidine Phosphate / thymidylic acid o form protein complexes
Adenine Adenosine Adenosine Phosphate / adenylic acid
Guanine Guanosine Guanosine Phosphate / guanylicacid

DNA
• Watson and Crick – double helix structure = 2 complementary polynucleotide chains
• Adenine base H bonded to Thymine, Guanine to Cystosine
• Nucleotide linkage – phosphodiester bond between 3’ OH and 5’ OH
• Predominant B form: right-handed, 20 A diameter, 10 base pairs per turn, 36° twist per base
pair, 34A helix poitch, 3.4 helix rise, wide and deep major groove, narrow and deep minor groove
• Chargaff’s Rule: equal number of T and A, and G and C
• Antiparallel, complementary base pairing
• Base pair stability: van der Waals, hydrophobic effect
• Meselson-Stahl Experiment – semi-conservative DNA replication