A complex organic acid or macromolecule in living cells made up a long chain of nucleotides, of which there are two types, DNA and RNA. Friedrich Miescher (1844-1895) is credited with discovering nucleic acids in 1869, and went on to suggest they could play a role in heredity. Current research on nucleic acids forms a major part what we know as genomics.
See Adenine, Cell, Fibroblasts, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), Genomics, Hereditary, Nucleotide, Polymerization, RNA (ribonucleic acid), Prion (proteinaceous infectious particle), Protein tyrosine kinase, Pyrimidines