Question

Describe the digestion of nucleic acid.

Answer 1

Nucleic acid digestion:

1. Nucleid acids are first broken down into their constituent nucleotides.
2. Subsequently, the nucleotides are digested down to release the constitutive nitrogenous base, sugar and phosphates.
3. Nucleic acids are digested in the small intestine as shown below:

$$\begin{gathered} \mathrm{DNA}\stackrel{\mathrm{DNAse}}{\to }\mathrm{Deoxyribonucleotides} \\ \mathrm{RNA}\stackrel{\mathrm{RNAse}}{\to }\mathrm{Ribonucleotides} \\ \mathrm{Nucleotides}\stackrel{\mathrm{Nucleotidase}}{\to }\mathrm{Nucelosides}+\mathrm{Phosphate} \\ \mathrm{Nucelosides}\stackrel{\mathrm{Nucleoside}\mathrm{Phosphorylase}}{\to } \\ \mathrm{Nitrogenous}\mathrm{Bases}+\mathrm{Pentose}\mathrm{Phosphate} \end{gathered}$$