Nucleic acid Nucleic acid Nucleic acids are the biopolymers, or small biomolecules, essential to all known forms of life. The term "nucleic acid" is the overall name for DNA and RNA. They are composed of nucleotides, which are the monomers made of three components: a 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. If the sugar is a compound ribose, the polymer is RNA (ribonucleic acid); if the sugar is derived from ribose as deoxyribose, the polymer is DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). Nucleic acids are the most important of all biomolecules. They are found in abundance in all living things, where they
Aspergillic acid Aspergillic acid Aspergillic acid is an organic chemical compound with the molecular formula CHNO. It has a pale yellow crystalline appearance. Aspergillic acid is most commonly known as an antibiotic and antifungal agent that is derived from certain strains of the fungus "Aspergillus flavus". In 1940 Edwin C. White and Justina H. Hill discovered that a fungal strain of "Aspergillus flavus" growing in a surface culture on a tryptone-salt was capable of producing a bactericidal filtrate. It has also been shown to be a bactericidal for some Gram-negative as well as Gram-positive bacteria. Over the next few years they worked