Word Study
nucleic acid
CIDE DICTIONARY
nucleic acid, n.
A natural or synthetic polymer consisting of chains of ribonucleotide or deoxyribonucleotide units.
"The nucleic acids are vital constituents of all living cells, carrying the genetic information propagated between generations, and, while a cell is alive, having a continued function in coding for the amino acid sequence of proteins being synthesized by the cell. The two natural types of nucleic adic are ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)." [WordNet 1.5]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
nucleic acid, n. either of two complex organic molecules (DNA and RNA), consisting of many nucleotides linked in a long chain, and present in all living cells.
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