Nucleic acids: They constitute an important class of biomolecules which are found in the nuclei of all living cells in the form of nucleoproteins (i.e., proteins containing nucleic acid as the prosthetic group). Nucleic acids are the genetic materials of the cells and are responsible for transmission of hereditary effect from one generation to the other and also carry out the biosynthesis of proteins. Nucleic acids are biopolymers (i.e., polymers present in the living system). The genetic information coded in nucleic acids controls the structure of all proteins including enzymes and thus governs the entire metabolic activity in the living organism.
Two important functions of nucleic acids are-
a. Replication: The process by which a single DNA molecule produces two identical copies of itself is called replication.
b. Protein Synthesis: DNA may be regarded as the instrument manual for the synthesis of all proteins present in the cell.