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Cytosine (/ ˈ s aɪ t ə ˌ s iː n,-ˌ z iː n,-ˌ s ɪ n / [2] [3]) (symbol C or Cyt) is one of the four nucleotide bases found in DNA and RNA, along with adenine, guanine, and thymine (uracil in RNA). It is a pyrimidine derivative, with a heterocyclic aromatic ring and two substituents attached (an amine group at position 4 and a keto group ...
The presence of this functional group causes the helix to mostly take the A-form geometry, [11] although in single strand dinucleotide contexts, RNA can rarely also adopt the B-form most commonly observed in DNA. [12] The A-form geometry results in a very deep and narrow major groove and a shallow and wide minor groove. [13]
The two main classes of nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). If the sugar is ribose, the polymer is RNA; if the sugar is deoxyribose, a variant of ribose, the polymer is DNA. Nucleic acids are chemical compounds that are found in nature. They carry information in cells and make up genetic material.
Both RNA and DNA contain two major purine bases, adenine (A) and guanine (G), and two major pyrimidines. In both DNA and RNA, one of the pyrimidines is cytosine (C). However, DNA and RNA differ in the second major pyrimidine. DNA contains thymine (T) while RNA contains uracil (U). There are some rare cases where thymine does occur in RNA and ...
The ability of nucleobases to form base pairs and to stack one upon another leads directly to long-chain helical structures such as ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Five nucleobases— adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), thymine (T), and uracil (U)—are called primary or canonical .
A-DNA, is a form of the DNA duplex observed under dehydrating conditions. It is shorter and wider than B-DNA. 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]
Stem-loops are nucleic acid secondary structural elements which form via intramolecular base pairing in single-stranded DNA or RNA. They are also referred to as hairpins or hairpin loops. A stem-loop occurs when two regions of the same nucleic acid strand, usually complementary in nucleotide sequence, base-pair to form a double helix that ends ...
During replication the DNA strands separate. In single stranded DNA, cytosine spontaneously slowly deaminates to adenosine (a C to A transversion). The longer the strands are separated the greater the quantity of deamination. For reasons that are not yet clear the strands tend to exist longer in single form in mitochondria than in chromosomal DNA.