Nucleic acids

Question 1

What are nucleic acids formed from?

Answer 1

polymers of many nucleotides, linked together in a chain

Question 2

What are the three components that make up a nucleotide?

Answer 2

a pentose monosaccharide

a phosphate group, -PO₄^2- , an inorganic molecule that is acidic and negatively charged

a nitrogenous base - a complex organic molecule containign one or two carbon rings in its structure as well as nitrogen

Question 3

How are nucleotides linked together?

Answer 3

by condensation reaction to form a polymer called a polynucleotide

the phosphjate group at the fifth carbond of the pentose sugar of one nucleotide forms a covalent bond with the hydroxyl group at the third carbon of the pentose sugar of an adjacent nucelotide

these bonds are called phosphodiester bond

Question 4

What structure do the phosphodiester bonds form and how are they broken?

Answer 4

This forms a long, strong, sugar - phophate backbone with a base attached to each sugar

the phosphodiester bonds are broken by hydrolysis, the reverse of condensation, releasing the individual nucleotides.