Definition of nucleic acids

Nucleic acids are polymers or macromolecules that are made up of repeating monomers, molecules with a small molecular mass, which are held together by covalent bonds called bonds phosphodiester.

It should be noted that these are capable of forming very long chains with millions of monomers chained together. The main functions of nucleic acids are, on the one hand, that of store the information genetics of a living being and on the other hand the hereditary transmission of the aforementioned genetics.

The Swiss biologist and doctor Johan Friedrich Miescher was the one who discovered nucleic acids when he was running in 1869. The achievement consisted in isolating the substance of the nuclein, a concept that would later be replaced by nucleic acids. It is worth mentioning that the moment in which Miescher discovered that acidic substance that was present in cell nuclei, nuclein, was accidental since its purpose was analyze remnants of pus from surgery and suddenly the discovery came. Of course, this remarkable finding would allow for remarkable future advances in genetics.

A few decades later, in 1953, the American biologist James Dewey Watson and his English colleague Francis Harry Compton Crick, discovered the structure of the DNA from the X-ray diffraction technique.

There are two types of nucleic acids, DNA or acid deoxyribonucleic and RNA or ribonucleic acid.

DNA is an acid that has the genetic information that allows development and functioning of living beings and also of some viruses. That is, thanks to DNA, the biological characteristics of a being will develop and cells can receive the instructions to be able to perform their functions satisfactorily. It is also in charge of the transmission of the inheritance genetics. Its great importance is the storage long-term of the information it holds.

And for its part, RNA is found in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and in some viruses. It displays several functions, including protein synthesis. As DNA cannot act, it only needs RNA to transmit essential information during the synthesis of the protein. For this reason it is more versatile than DNA.