Why does carbon form the backbone of dna

Each phosphate group contains one negatively charged oxygen atom, therefore the entire strand of DNA is negatively charged due to repeated phosphate groups. Floro Cassangue Teacher. Why is DNA so important? DNA is vital for all living beings — even plants. It is important for inheritance, coding for proteins and the genetic instruction guide for life and its processes. DNA holds the instructions for an organism's or each cell's development and reproduction and ultimately death.

Denice Cicero Teacher. What is the main function of nucleic acids? The functions of nucleic acids have to do with the storage and expression of genetic information. Deoxyribonucleic acid DNA encodes the information the cell needs to make proteins. A related type of nucleic acid , called ribonucleic acid RNA , comes in different molecular forms that participate in protein synthesis.

Marijana Porqueras Teacher. Is ATP a nucleotide? ATP is a nucleotide consisting of an adenine base attached to a ribose sugar, which is attached to three phosphate groups. Genevieve Sprinze Reviewer. Is DNA a protein? No, DNA is not a protein. Codes Buschtons Reviewer. What Colour is DNA? Figure 2: The four nitrogenous bases that compose DNA nucleotides are shown in bright colors: adenine A, green , thymine T, red , cytosine C, orange , and guanine G, blue.

Karl Gmirek Reviewer. How does DNA make us unique? This compound is supposed to be the RNA, because it is a simpler molecule compared to DNA and it is easier to synthesize. The rules of base pairing or nucleotide pairing are: A with T: the purine adenine A always pairs with the pyrimidine thymine T C with G: the pyrimidine cytosine C always pairs with the purine guanine G. In base pairing, adenine always pairs with thymine, and guanine always pairs with cytosine.

Base-pairing rule — the rule stating that in dna, cytosine pairs with guanine and adenine pairs with thymine add in rna, adenine pairs with uracil. The monomers of DNA are called nucleotides. Nucleotides have three components: a base, a sugar deoxyribose and a phosphate residue. The double helix of DNA is, like its name implies, in the shape of a helix which is essentially a three dimensional spiral. The double comes from the fact that the helix is made of two long strands of DNA that are intertwined—sort of like a twisted ladder.

Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Ben Davis January 8, Which substance is composed the backbone of DNA? What makes up the rungs of the double helix?

Which best describes how DNA fits inside a cell nucleus quizlet? After you finish this article, we invite you to read other articles to assist you in teaching science at home on the Homeschool Hub, which consists of over free science articles! Home Science Tools offers a wide variety of science products and kits. Find affordable beakers, dissection supplies, chemicals, microscopes, and everything else you need to teach science for all ages!

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Loud noises at decibels are approximately as loud as a drill, subway station, or vacuum cleaner, and can result in severe hearing loss. Many people can hear What is DNA? Do you know what makes up the backbone of DNA? The famous double-helix? Read on to find out. What Is DNA? These instructions are divided into segments along a strand of DNA and are called genes.

Structure of DNA. Teaching Homeschool Welcome! Notice also that there are two different sizes of base. Adenine and guanine are bigger because they both have two rings. Cytosine and thymine only have one ring each. If the top of this segment was the end of the chain, then the phosphate group would have an -OH group attached to the spare bond rather than another sugar ring.

Similarly, if the bottom of this segment of chain was the end, then the spare bond at the bottom would also be to an -OH group on the deoxyribose ring. If you look at this carefully, you will see that an adenine on one chain is always paired with a thymine on the second chain. And a guanine on one chain is always paired with a cytosine on the other one.

The first thing to notice is that a smaller base is always paired with a bigger one. The effect of this is to keep the two chains at a fixed distance from each other all the way along.

That is because these particular pairs fit exactly to form very effective hydrogen bonds with each other. It is these hydrogen bonds which hold the two chains together. Note: If the structures confuse you at first sight, it is because the molecules have had to be turned around from the way they have been drawn above in order to make them fit.

Be sure that you understand how to do that. As long as you were given the structures of the bases, you could be asked to show how they hydrogen bond - and that would include showing the lone pairs and polarity of the important atoms. If hydrogen bonding worries you, follow this link for detailed explanations.

Use the BACK button on your browser to return here later. Note: You might have noticed that I have shorten the chains by one base pair compared with the previous diagram.

There isn't any sophisticated reason for this. The diagram just got a little bit too big for my normal page width, and it was a lot easier to just chop a bit off the bottom than rework all my previous diagrams to make them slightly smaller! This diagram only represents a tiny bit of a DNA molecule anyway.

Notice that the two chains run in opposite directions, and the right-hand chain is essentially upside-down. You will also notice that I have labelled the ends of these bits of chain with 3' and 5'. If you followed the left-hand chain to its very end at the top, you would have a phosphate group attached to the 5' carbon in the deoxyribose ring. If you followed it all the way to the other end, you would have an -OH group attached to the 3' carbon. This 5' and 3' notation becomes important when we start talking about the genetic code and genes.

The genetic code in genes is always written in the 5' to 3' direction along a chain. It is also important when we take a very simplified look at how DNA makes copies of itself on the next page. If this is the first set of questions you have done, please read the introductory page before you start.

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