Nucleic Acids

• Nucleic acids store, transmit, and help express hereditary information. Nucleic acids are polymers made of monomers called nucleotides.

There are two types of nucleic acids; deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and Ribonucleic acid (RNA). These enable living organisms to reproduce their complex components from one generation to the next. DNA is genetic material inherited through bloodlines.

Nucleic acids are macromolecules that exist as polymers called polynucleotides. A nucleotide is composed of nitrogen-containing (nitrogenous) base, a five carbon sugar, and one of three phosphate groups.

​DNA Molecules have two polynucleotides, or "strands", that wind around an imaginary axis, forming a double helix. Two sugar-phosphate backbones run in opposite 5' --> 3' directions form each other. This referred to as anti-parallel.