Nucleic acids form by the joining of nucleotides that have stored energy that
the microorganism needs for metabolism. Enzymes form to speed the rate of the
chemical reaction that breaks these high-energy bonds to release the energy
needed for cell metabolism.
Nucleic acids are long polymer chains that are found in the nucleus of cells
and contain all the genetic material of the cell. Genetic material determines the
activities of the cell and is passed on from generation to generation.
TYPES OF NUCLEIC ACIDS
There are two types of nucleic acids found in the cell:
- Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). DNA is a double strand of nucleotides that
is organized into segments. Each segment is called a gene. Genes deter-
mine the genetic markers that are inherited from previous generations of
the organism. A genetic marker is a specific genetic characteristic such as
CHAPTER 2 Chemical Elements of Microorganisms^43
Table 2-3. Scientists and Their Contributions
Year Scientist Contribution
1803 John Dalton Developed the Atomic Theory that explains the rela-
tionship between an element and an atom.
1860 Dimitri Mendeleev Organized chemical elements into a table according
to its atomic weight.
1800 H. G. J. Moseley Organized chemical elements into a table according
to their atomic numbers.The table was originally
know as the Law of Chemical Periodicity and has
since been called the Periodic Table.
1911 Ernest Rutherford Developed the Rutherford model of an atom and
developed the concept of half-life.
1903 Marie and Pierre Curie Discovered radioactivity.
1811 Amadeo Avagadro An Italian physicist after whom the value of the
number of molecules in a mole of a substance
was named.
1913 Niels Bohr Proposed that electrons occupy a cloud surrounding
the nucleus of an atom. This is called an orbital.