6.1: Introduction to Nucleic Acids and Proteins
- Page ID
- 135217
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Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): In a cell, the information in DNA is transcribed into an mRNA molecule, which is used to build a polypeptide, creating proteins. (credit: Image by Khan Academy, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license).
Nucleic Acids and Protein
Our next two biological macromolecules, nucleic acids and proteins, are intricately linked. While the term nucleic acid might be less familiar, you've likely heard of DNA and might know that DNA holds the information to make you, well, you. This is a remarkable statement if you ponder it for a moment. When we say that DNA holds information, what kind of information do we mean? We will explore this idea in detail in later topics, but for now, suffice it to say that your genes hold the information for making proteins. All cells produce proteins, and the specific combinations of proteins that a cell makes give it its specific function in a multicellular organism. Cells can also change which proteins they produce and how many in response to stimuli in their environment.
The proteins in our food are just that—proteins made by cells using the information in DNA. Consider foods that are high in protein, like animal meat. Meats are made of muscle cells, which contain abundant contractile proteins, that allow them to relax and contract to move the body. In truth, we also consume a significant amount of nucleic acids in our diet, but humans don't use them for fuel, so we don't pay them as much attention as we do the other macromolecules in our diet.
As you learn about nucleic acids and proteins, keep in mind that we will revisit these macromolecules in later topics. Understanding their chemical structures and properties is essential to understanding how they are made and used by the cell.