Nucleic acids and amino acids. What a pair. Today's lecture dealt with the two classes of compounds mentioned above, with some commentary on how they can be strung together to form larger biomolecules. With nucleic acids, it was the recognition of the 3' - 5' coupling; the resultant macro structure is held together in helical form largely by non-covalent forces (in this case, hydrogen bonds). As for amino acids, we saw how they exist in zwitterionic form in aqueous solution. There are a variety of different types of side chains that can be attached which can be broken up into the generic catagories of neutral, acidic, and basic.
Chains of amino acids make peptides, many enzymes and proteins are nothing other than amino acids. The overall structure can be described as primary (1°, the order of amino acids), secondary (2°, local interactions such as helices, sheets and turns), and tertiary (3°, the complete three-dimensional structure).
The picture, as promised, is from Kill Bill, Volume 2.
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