The sugar-phosphate backbone forms the structural framework of nucleic acids, including DNA and RNA. This backbone is composed of alternating sugar and phosphate groups, and defines directionality ...

Traits as diverse as the color of a person's eyes and the scent of a rose are determined by the information contained in DNA. Learn how this information is coded by strings of molecules called ...

All nucleotides contain the same sugar and phosphate backbone. The genetic information comes from the order in which the nucleotides appear. In 1953, Watson and Crick came up with the standard ...

Combinations of these atoms form the sugar-phosphate backbone of the DNA -- the sides of the ladder, in other words. Other combinations of the atoms form the four bases: thymine (T), adenine (A ...

In this analogy nucleotides are the teeth of the zipper; the sugar-phosphate backbone is the fabric to which the teeth are attached. Because of the shape of the nucleobases—and the enzymes that ...

There are four bases: Adenine and Guanine (purines); Cytosine and Thymine (Pyrimidines). Purines have two carbon-nitrogen rings while pyrimidines have a single carbon-nitrogen ring. Thus, there ...

Both of these genetic molecules have a sugar-phosphate backbone. The phosphate (PO 4) works as a kind of "super glue," since it has three oxygen atoms that will carry charges in solution.

Base pairs are stacked on top of one another, with two strands of a sugar-phosphate backbone twisting around them to form an elegant, spiraling ladder. This structure plays an important role in ...