THE STRUCTURES OF NUCLEIC ACIDS
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Excerpt
Important Factors in Consideration of Structure
Apart from the question of molecular size, four factors are of prime importance in considerations of the structure of a polynucleotide:
The natures of all the individual nucleotides;
The natures of the linkages between the nucleotides;
The relative proportions of the individual nucleotides;
The relative positions of the nucleotides in the polynucleotide.
It illustrates our ignorance of the structures of nucleic acids that not even one of these factors is known with complete certainty for any one polynucleotide. In this contribution these factors are discussed in detail and with illustrative reference to the ribonucleic acid of yeast and the desoxypentose nucleic acid of calf thymus, and these polynucleotides are then considered from the standpoint of macromolecular structure.
The Nature of All the Individual Nucleotides
The nucleotides which have been isolated from the hydrolysis products of nucleic acids are guanylic, adenylic, cytidylic and uridylic acids...
