Nucleic Acids Vs Amino Acids

The key departure between amino acrid and nucleic acid is that amino acids are the building blocks of proteins whereas nucleic acids are macromolecules made out of nucleotides.

Proteins and nucleic acids are essential components in living organisms. They are macromolecules containing hundreds of repeating units. Hence, a repeating unit represents the monomers or the building blocks that were used up in producing them. Amino acids are the monomers of proteins. Nucleotides are the monomers of nucleic acids.

one. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Amino Acid
iii. What is Nucleic Acid
4. Side past Side Comparison – Amino Acid vs Nucleic Acid in Tabular Form
five. Summary

What is Amino Acid?

The amino acid is a elementary molecule formed with C, H, O, N and sometimes Sulfur also. There are about 20 mutual amino acids. All the amino acids accept a –COOH, -NH₂ groups and a –H bonded to a carbon. The carbon is a chiral carbon, and alpha-amino acids are the most of import type in the biological world. Moreover, nosotros cannot observe D-amino acids in proteins and non a role of the metabolism of higher organisms.

However, several amino acids are important in the structure and metabolism of lower forms of life. In addition to mutual amino acids, there are some non-poly peptide derived amino acids, many of which are either metabolic intermediates or parts of non-protein biomolecules (ornithine, citrulline). An amino acid has the following general structure.

Figure 01: Amino Acid Structure

The R group differs from amino acrid to amino acid. Likewise, the simplest amino acid with the R group existence H is glycine. As well, according to the R group, nosotros tin categorize the amino acids into different groups; such as aliphatic – aromatic, non-polar – polar, positively charged – negatively charged, or polar uncharged, etc. Furthermore, amino acids are present as zwitter ions in the physiological pH of vii.iv.

Besides, amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. When 2 amino acids bring together to course a dipeptide, the combination takes place in a -NH₂ group of one amino acid with the –COOH group of another amino acid. At that place, a peptide bond forms removing a water molecule. Also, thousands of amino acids can be condensed to form long peptides, which and so undergo different folding patterns to make proteins.

What is Nucleic Acid?

Nucleic acids are macromolecules; they form via the combination of thousands of nucleotides. They take C, H, N, O and P. There are two major types of nucleic acids in biological systems; they are the Dna and RNA. They are the genetic material of an organism and are responsible for passing genetic characteristics from generation to generation.

Farther, these compounds are important to control and maintain cellular functions. A nucleotide contains three units; they are the pentose carbohydrate molecule, nitrogenous base of operations, and phosphate group. According to the type of pentose sugar molecule, nitrogenous base of operations, and the number of phosphate groups, the nucleotides differ from each other. For instance, in Dna, there is a deoxyribose sugar, and in RNA, at that place is a ribose carbohydrate.

Effigy 02: Nucleic Acid Structure

Moreover, there are mainly 2 groups of nitrogenous bases; they are the pyridines and pyrimidines. Cytosine, thymine, and uracil are examples for pyrimidine bases. Adenine and guanine are the two purine bases. DNA has adenine, Guanine, cytosine, and thymine bases, whereas RNA has A, M, C and uracil (instead of thymine).

In Dna and RNA, complementary bases grade hydrogen bonds between them. Likewise, in those, adenine to thiamine (or uracil if information technology is RNA) and guanine to cytosine are complementary to each other. The phosphates groups tin can link with the –OH group of carbon five of the saccharide. Nucleic acids form via combining nucleotides with phosphodiester bonds removing water molecules.

What is the Deviation Betwixt Amino Acrid and Nucleic Acid?

Amino acids and nucleic acids are highly distinct from each other. The fundamental difference between amino acrid and nucleic acid is that amino acid is the edifice cake of proteins whereas nucleic acids is a macromolecule made out of nucleotides. Therefore, amino acids are pocket-size molecules while nucleic acids are macromolecules.

Moreover, amino acids have C, H, O, N and Due south, whereas nucleic acids have C, H, O, North and P mainly. So, this is as well an important departure between amino acids and nucleic acids. Furthermore, in that location are many types of amino acids such equally essential amino acids, non-essential amino acids, etc. but there are only two major types of nucleic acids; they are Deoxyribonucleic acid and RNA.

The below infographic on the difference between amino acid and nucleic acrid shows these differences intabular form.

Summary – Amino Acid vs Nucleic Acid

Amino acids are simple molecules while nucleic acids are large molecules. Hence, the key difference betwixt amino acid and nucleic acid is that amino acids are the edifice blocks of proteins whereas nucleic acids are macromolecules fabricated out of nucleotides.

Reference:

1. Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "Nucleic Acids – Structure and Part." ThoughtCo, Oct. 19, 2018. Bachelor hither

Paradigm Courtesy:

1."Amino Acid"By Tyagi.anuj – Own work, (CC By three.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2."Ribonucleic acid chemical construction"Past Warraich Sahib – Own work, (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia