Function of Nucleic Acids

By far the most important function of nucleic acids for living things is their role as carriers of information.

Because nucleic acids can be created with four “bases,” and because “base pairing rules” allow information to be “copied” by using one strand of nucleic acids as a template to create another, these molecules are able to both contain and copy information.

To understand this process, it may be useful to compare the DNA code to the binary code used by computers. The two codes are very different in their specifics, but the principle is the same. Just as your computer can create entire virtual realities simply by reading strings of 1s and 0s, cells can create entire living organisms by reading strings of the four DNA base pairs – A, T, C, and G.

As you might imagine, without binary code, you’d have no computer and no computer programs. In just the same way, living organisms need intact copies of their DNA “source code” to function.

The parallels between the genetic code and binary code has even led some scientists to propose the creation of “genetic computers,” which might be able to store information much more efficiently than silicon-based hard drives. However as our ability to record information on silicon has advanced, little attention has been given to research into “genetic computers.”

Because the DNA source code is just as vital to a cell as your operating system is to your computer, DNA must be protected from potential damage. To transport DNA’s instructions to other parts of the cell, then copies its information are made using another type of nucleic acid – RNA.

It’s these RNA copies of genetic information which are sent out of the nucleus and around the cell to be used as instructions by cellular machinery.

Nucleic acids and similar molecules can also be used by cells for other purposes. Ribosomes – the cellular machines that make protein – and some enzymes are made out of RNA.

The fact that RNA can act both as hereditary material and an enzyme strengthens the case for the idea that the very first life might have been a self-replicating, self-catalyzing RNA molecule.

Function of Nucleic Acids