Home > Encyclopedia of Science > Nucleic Acid

• Structure of nucleic acids
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• Kinds of nucleic acids
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A nucleic acid is a complex organic compound found in all living organisms. Nucleic acids were discovered in 1869 by the Swiss biochemist Johann Friedrich Miescher (1844–1895). Miescher discovered the presence of an unusual organic compound in the nuclei of cells and gave that compound the name nuclein. The compound was unusual because it contained both nitrogen and phosphorus, in addition to carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Nuclein was one of the first organic compounds to have been discovered that contained this combination of elements. Although later research showed that various forms of nuclein occurred in other parts of the cell, the name remained in the modified form by which it is known...