Question

What type of linkage is present in nucleic acids?

Answer 1

Nucleic acids are vital macromolecules. Nucleic acids are made up of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, phosphorus and carbon. Nucleic acids are long chain polymers that are made up of nucleotides. The nucleotide is the monomeric unit of nucleic acids.

Complete answer:
The basic building blocks of nucleic acids are known as nucleotides. Nucleotides are made up of nucleosides and phosphate. Nucleosides are made up of a nitrogenous base and a five carbon sugar. Nucleotides play an important role in the metabolism.

We know that a nucleotide is made of three subunits: a five-carbon sugar, a nitrogenous base and one phosphate group. If the sugar is a ribose sugar then the nucleic acid is known as ribonucleic acid or RNA. If the sugar is a deoxyribose sugar then the nucleic acid is known as deoxy ribonucleic acid or DNA.
In nucleotides, the nitrogenous base and the five carbon sugars are linked through a glycosidic bond and are collectively known as a nucleoside.

The phosphate group is linked to the nucleoside through a phosphodiester bond. The phosphate group is linked to the nucleoside at $5’-OH$ end. Thus, the phosphodiester bond is a strong covalent bond between a phosphate group and two other molecules.In nucleotides, the phosphodiester bond is the linkage between the third carbon atom of one sugar molecule and the fifth carbon atom of another sugar molecule.

Thus, the linkage present in nucleic acids is the phosphodiester linkage.

Note: The nucleic acids help in the synthesis of proteins in the body. RNA is mainly used in protein synthesis. The loss of nucleic acids can cause mutation and many other diseases. DNA is used for fingerprinting methods in forensic sciences.