Question

Who discovered Nucleic Acid?

Answer 1

Nucleic acids are the largest macromolecules found in the living world. These are formed by polymerization of a large number of repeated units called nucleotides. The nucleotides are joined serially by phosphate groups, each linking the 5'C and the 3'C of the pentose sugars of the successive nucleotides.

Complete answer:
Nucleic acid was first isolated by a swiss biochemist Friedrick Miescher (1869) from the nuclei of pus cells and named this substance as nuclein. The compound was later renamed as nucleic acid, due to its acidic properties by Altman (1889). He was also discovered the existence of two types of nucleic acids-
Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid (DNA) – it mainly occurs in the nucleus. It is a genetic material. It is double stranded in nature. It contains deoxyribose sugar and nitrogenous bases- adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine. It can also replicate to form a new DNA. It controls heredity, evolution, metabolism, structure, etc. Types of DNA - nuclear and extranuclear.
Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) – It mainly occurs in the cytoplasm and a very small quantity is found in the nucleus. It is not a genetic material except for some viruses. RNA is single stranded and contains ribose sugar. It contains nitrogen bases – adenine, guanine, uracil and cytosine. There are various types of RNA – mRNA, rRNA and tRNA. It also helps in the protein synthesis, control of metabolism under instruction of DNA.

So, the nucleic acid was discovered by Friedrick Miescher in the year 1869.

Note:
Nucleic acids play a vital role in our body.
It helps to synthesize proteins in our body.
DNA carries the hereditary information. That latter is coded in the sequence of its nitrogen bases.
DNA gives rise to RNAs through the process of transcription.