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Name: Taimoor
Status: Other
Grade:  Other
Location: Outside U.S.
Country: Pakistan
Date: Fall 2009
Question:
Why DNA is acidic in nature?


Replies:
Because the phosphate groups, which make up the sugar phosphate backbone of the molecule, are derived from phosphoric acid.

Ron Baker, Ph.D.

Taimoor,

Acids like sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid are typically known for their corrosive properties. However, the chemical definition of an acid is a little more obscure. An acid is any molecule that donate a proton (or hydrogen ion) to another molecule. By this definition, many biochemicals are technically acids (amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins as well as DNA), but their function in the body is not about corrosiveness. In fact, there are many compounds that can be both an acid and a base, and are not corrosive like sulfuric acid.

Hope this helps,
Burr


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