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What are the units of nucleic acids called?

What are the units of nucleic acids called?

Nucleic acids are macromolecules, which means they are molecules composed of many smaller molecular units. Thes units are called nucleotides, and they are chemically linked to one another in a chain. 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.

What is the basic unit or monomer of a nucleic acid?

Nucleic acids are giant biomolecules made of monomers called nucleotides. Nucleotides have three components: pentose sugar (5-carbon sugar), phosphate group, and nitrogenous base.

What are the bases of nucleic acids?

The base components of nucleic acids are heterocyclic compounds with the rings containing nitrogen and carbon. Adenine and guanine are purines, which contain a pair of fused rings; cytosine, thymine, and uracil are pyrimidines, which contain a single ring (Figure 4-2).

Is nucleic acid the basic unit of life?

Deoxyribonucleic acid Along with RNA and proteins, DNA is one of the three major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life. DNA consists of two long polymers of simple units called nucleotides, with backbones made of sugars and phosphate groups joined by ester bonds.

What are the 3 nucleic acids?

Structure of Nucleic Acids A nucleotide is made up of three components: a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar, and a phosphate group. The two main types of nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA).

What is simplest unit of a nucleic acid?

Answer. The simplest unit of a nucleic acid is a Nucleotide. The proteins responsible for the bodies self defense are called antibodies secreted by B-Cells.

What are the sub units of nucleic acids called?

Nucleic acids are macromolecules composed of many (polymers) small sub-units called nucleotides. There are two types of nucleic acids i.e. DNA (deoxyribonucleic Acid) and RNA (Ribo nucleic Acid). They are the chemical constituents of the chromosomes.

What are the subunits of nucleic acids?

Nucleotides are the subunits of nucleic acids; composed of a phosphate, a sugar, and a nitrogen-containing base. 1-800-2242242. data-config-site-section=”chacha”>.

What are the four nucleic acid base compounds?

adenine (A)

  • guanine (G)
  • cytosine (C)
  • thymine (T)
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