NUCLEIC ACIDS

DNA and RNA are used to direct the activity of cells.
Cells look and function a certain way because of directions contained in the DNA.
They have 3 Parts:

• a Carbohydrate (pentose, a 5 carbon sugar)
• a single Base (one of five possibilities)
• a Phosphorous

Here is what they look like all put together:

Nucleic acids are linked together to form long chains, and DNA is made of two parallel chains:

These parallel chains have a twist to them so DNA is often called a Double Helix.
Making DNA molecules: