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DNA is defined by containing 2'-deoxy-ribose nucleic acid while RNA is defined by containing ribose nucleic acid. [1] In some occasions, DNA and RNA may contain some minor bases. Methylated forms of the major bases are most common in DNA. In viral DNA, some bases may be hydroxymethylated or glucosylated.
Methylated uracil is identical to thymine. Hence the hypothesis that, over time, thymine became standard in DNA instead of uracil. So cells continue to use uracil in RNA, and not in DNA, because RNA is shorter-lived than DNA, and any potential uracil-related errors do not lead to lasting damage. Apparently, either there was no evolutionary ...
Deoxythymidine is non-toxic and is part of one of the four nucleosides in DNA. It is a naturally occurring compound that exists in all living organisms and DNA viruses. Instead of thymidine, RNA contains uridine (uracil joined to ribose). Uracil is chemically very similar to thymine, which is also known as 5-methyluracil.
DNA contains four different nitrogenous bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine. RNA also contains adenine, guanine, and cytosine, but replaces thymine with uracil. [15] Thus, DNA synthesis requires dATP, dGTP, dCTP, and dTTP as substrates, while RNA synthesis requires ATP, GTP, CTP, and UTP. Nucleic acid synthesis is catalyzed by either ...
Deoxyribose, or more precisely 2-deoxyribose, is a monosaccharide with idealized formula H−(C=O)−(CH 2)−(CHOH) 3 −H. Its name indicates that it is a deoxy sugar, meaning that it is derived from the sugar ribose by loss of a hydroxy group. Discovered in 1929 by Phoebus Levene, [2] deoxyribose is most notable for its presence in DNA.
A fifth pyrimidine nucleobase, uracil (U), usually takes the place of thymine in RNA and differs from thymine by lacking a methyl group on its ring. In addition to RNA and DNA, many artificial nucleic acid analogues have been created to study the properties of nucleic acids, or for use in biotechnology. [19]
RNA is a very similar molecule to DNA, with only two significant chemical differences (the backbone of RNA uses ribose instead of deoxyribose and its nucleobases include uracil instead of thymine). The overall structure of RNA and DNA are immensely similar—one strand of DNA and one of RNA can bind to form a double helical structure.
Cytosine, thymine, and uracil are pyrimidines, hence the glycosidic bonds form between their 1 nitrogen and the 1' -OH of the deoxyribose. For both the purine and pyrimidine bases, the phosphate group forms a bond with the deoxyribose sugar through an ester bond between one of its negatively charged oxygen groups and the 5' -OH of the sugar. [ 2 ]