The most commonly known type of nucleic acid is DNA, which has two strands arranged in a double helix. There are also a number of types of RNA, a single-strand nucleic acid.
Nucleic acids have a long backbone made of alternating sugar and phosphate molecules. Different types of nucleotide bases are attached to the sugar molecules.
The most common types of nucleotides found in nucleic acids are adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine and uracil. Cytosine and guanine can bond together, and adenine bonds with thymine in DNA and uracil in RNA.
DNA functions to store genetic information in organisms through the sequence of nucleotide bases. RNA is the template from which proteins are made as building blocks for organisms.
Without nucleic acids, organisms would not have templates from which to grow. In fact, the nucleic acids transmit genetic information from organisms to their offspring.