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Nucleic acid design can be used to create nucleic acid complexes with complicated secondary structures such as this four-arm junction. These four strands associate into this structure because it maximizes the number of correct base pairs, with A's matched to T's and C's matched to G's.
The chemical DNA was discovered in 1869, but its role in genetic inheritance was not demonstrated until 1943. The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes. Other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in regulating the use of this genetic information.
The two DNA strands are known as polynucleotides as they are composed of simpler monomeric units called nucleotides. [2] [3] Each nucleotide is composed of one of four nitrogen-containing nucleobases (cytosine [C], guanine [G], adenine [A] or thymine [T]), a sugar called deoxyribose, and a phosphate group.
RNA adopts this double helical form, and RNA-DNA duplexes are mostly A-form, but B-form RNA-DNA duplexes have been observed. [14] In localized single strand dinucleotide contexts, RNA can also adopt the B-form without pairing to DNA. [15] A-DNA has a deep, narrow major groove which does not make it easily accessible to proteins.
Nucleic acids consist of a chain of linked units called nucleotides. Each nucleotide consists of three subunits: a phosphate group and a sugar (ribose in the case of RNA, deoxyribose in DNA) make up the backbone of the nucleic acid strand, and attached to the sugar is one of a set of nucleobases.
This nucleotide contains the five-carbon sugar deoxyribose (at center), a nucleobase called adenine (upper right), and one phosphate group (left). The deoxyribose sugar joined only to the nitrogenous base forms a Deoxyribonucleoside called deoxyadenosine, whereas the whole structure along with the phosphate group is a nucleotide, a constituent of DNA with the name deoxyadenosine monophosphate.
Two segments of DNA can have shared ancestry because of either a speciation event or a duplication event . Homology among proteins or DNA is typically inferred from their sequence similarity. Significant similarity is strong evidence that two sequences are related by divergent evolution of a common ancestor.
DNA replication also works by using a DNA template, the DNA double helix unwinds during replication, exposing unpaired bases for new nucleotides to hydrogen bond to. Gene synthesis, however, does not require a DNA template and genes are assembled de novo. DNA synthesis occurs in all eukaryotes and prokaryotes, as well as some viruses. The ...