Question

What are the functional groups of DNA?

Answer 1

The functional groups are amine, amide, hydroxyl, glycoside linkage, and phosphodiester.

Explanation:

First, let's look at the bases in DNA.

Adenine, guanine, and cytosine have amine (`"-NH"_2)` groups, while thymine, cytosine, and guanine have amide (`"-CONH-"`) groups.

The bases are joined in DNA to form nucleotides with the general structure

(from cahsbiology.weebly.com)

We see a glycoside linkage (`"O-C-N-"`) between the sugar and the base, and a hydroxyl group (`"-OH"`) and a phosphate ester (`"R-O-PO"_3^"2-"`) on the sugar.

Finally, we look at a DNA strand.

(from en.wikipedia.org)

We see that the nucleotides are linked by phosphate diester groups from one sugar molecule to the next one in the chain..