Nucleic acid structure
Encyclopedia
Nucleic acid structure refers to the structure of nucleic acid
Nucleic acid
Nucleic acids are biological molecules essential for life, and include DNA and RNA . Together with proteins, nucleic acids make up the most important macromolecules; each is found in abundance in all living things, where they function in encoding, transmitting and expressing genetic information...

s such as DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

 and RNA
RNA
Ribonucleic acid , or RNA, is one of the three major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life....

  It is often divided into four different levels:
  • Primary structure—the raw sequence of nucleobase
    Nucleobase
    Nucleobases are a group of nitrogen-based molecules that are required to form nucleotides, the basic building blocks of DNA and RNA. Nucleobases provide the molecular structure necessary for the hydrogen bonding of complementary DNA and RNA strands, and are key components in the formation of stable...

    s of each of the component DNA strands;
  • Secondary structure
    Nucleic acid secondary structure
    The secondary structure of a nucleic acid molecule refers to the basepairing interactions within a single molecule or set of interacting molecules, and can be represented as a list of bases which are paired in a nucleic acid molecule....

    —the set of interactions between bases, i.e., which parts of which strands are bound to each other;
  • Tertiary structure
    Nucleic acid tertiary structure
    300px|thumb|upright|alt = Colored dice with checkered background|Example of a large catalytic RNA. The self-splicing group II intron from Oceanobacillus iheyensis....

    —the locations of the atoms in three-dimensional space, taking into consideration geometrical and steric constraints; and
  • Quaternary structure
    Nucleic acid quaternary structure
    The quaternary structure of a nucleic acid refers to the interactions between separate nucleic acid molecules, or between nucleic acid molecules and proteins...

    —the higher-level organization of DNA in chromatin, or to the interactions between separate RNA units in the ribosome
    Ribosome
    A ribosome is a component of cells that assembles the twenty specific amino acid molecules to form the particular protein molecule determined by the nucleotide sequence of an RNA molecule....

     or spliceosome
    Spliceosome
    A spliceosome is a complex of snRNA and protein subunits that removes introns from a transcribed pre-mRNA segment. This process is generally referred to as splicing.-Composition:...

    .

See also

  • Nucleic acid double helix
    Nucleic acid double helix
    In molecular biology, the term double helix refers to the structure formed by double-stranded molecules of nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA. The double helical structure of a nucleic acid complex arises as a consequence of its secondary structure, and is a fundamental component in determining its...

  • Nucleic acid structure determination (experimental)
  • Nucleic acid structure prediction
    Nucleic acid structure prediction
    Nucleic acid structure prediction is a computational method to determine nucleic acid secondary and tertiary structure from its sequence. Secondary structure can be predicted from a single or from several nucleic acid sequences...

     (computational)
  • DNA nanotechnology
    DNA nanotechnology
    DNA nanotechnology is a branch of nanotechnology which uses the molecular recognition properties of DNA and other nucleic acids to create designed, artificial structures out of DNA for technological purposes. In this field, DNA is used as a structural material rather than as a carrier of genetic...

  • Nucleic acid design
    Nucleic acid design
    Nucleic acid design is the process of generating a set of nucleic acid base sequences that will associate into a desired conformation. Nucleic acid design is central to the fields of DNA nanotechnology and DNA computing...

  • Nucleic acid thermodynamics
    Nucleic acid thermodynamics
    Nucleic acid thermodynamics is the study of the thermodynamics of nucleic acid molecules, or how temperature affects nucleic acid structure. For multiple copies of DNA molecules, the melting temperature is defined as the temperature at which half of the DNA strands are in the double-helical state...

  • Crosslinking of DNA
    Crosslinking of DNA
    Crosslinks in DNA occur when various exogenous or endogenous agents react with two different positions in the DNA. This can either occur in the same strand or in the opposite strands of the DNA . Crosslinks also occur between DNA and protein...

  • DNA supercoil
    DNA supercoil
    DNA supercoiling refers to the over- or under-winding of a DNA strand, and is an expression of the strain on the polymer. Supercoiling is important in a number of biological processes, such as compacting DNA. Additionally, certain enzymes such as topoisomerases are able to change DNA topology to...

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