Nucleotides
Introduction
Nucleotides play major important roles in cellular metabolism. They are very essential for chemical links in the response of cells to hormones and other extracellular stimuli. They also act as the structural components of an array of enzyme cofactors and metabolic intermediates. Most importantly they are the constituents of nucleicacids: deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleicacid (RNA). Nucleic acids are the molecular repositories of genetic information. The structure of every protein, and ultimately of every biomolecule and cellular component are programmed in form of nucleotide sequence of a cell’s nucleic
acids. The ability of nucleic acids to store and transmit genetic information from one generation to the next is a fundamental condition for life. This chapter provides an overview of the structure of nucleic acids, chemistry of nucleotides, nucleotide metabolism, function of nucleic acid and diseases of error in nucleotide metabolism with special reference to gout.
Objective
describe the chemistry of nucleotides
describe the structure of nucleic acids
explain the characteristics of nucleic acids
describe the nucleotide metabolism
enlist the functions of nucleic acid
