What Is Nucleobase

This section provides a quick introduction of the 5 primary nucleobases: Adenine (A), Cytosine (C), Guanine (G), Thymine (T) and Uracil (U).

What Is Nucleobase? - Nucleobases, also known as nitrogenous bases or often simply bases, are nitrogen-containing biological compounds that form nucleosides, which in turn are components of nucleotides, which is turn are used to build DNA and RNA.

There are only 5 primary nucleobases:

1. Adenine (A) - Adenine (6-Adminopurine), C5H5N5, is a purine type of nucleobase, containing two rings of alternating carbon and nitrogen atoms. Adenine (A) always pairs with Thymine (T) to form an A-T pair.

2. Cytosine (C) - Cytosine (2-Oxo-4-adminopyrimidine), C4H5N3O, is a pyrimidine type of nucleobase, consisting a single ring. Cytosine (C) always pairs with Guanine (G) to form a G-C pair as a building block for DNA.

3. Guanine (G) - Guanine (2-Amino-6-oxopurine), C5H5N5, is a purine type of nucleobase, containing two rings of alternating carbon and nitrogen atoms. Guanine (G) always pairs with Cytosine (C) to form a G-C pair as a building block for DNA.

4. Thymine (T) - Thymine (2,4-Dioxo-5-methylpyrimidine), C5H6N2O2, is a pyrimidine type of nucleobase, consisting a single ring. Thymine (T) always pairs with Adenine (A) to form an A-T pair as a building block for DNA.

5. Uracil (U) - Uracil (2,4-Dioxopyrimidine), C4H4N2O2, is a pyrimidine type of nucleobase, consisting a single ring. Uracil (U) is a building block for RNA.

Here are the molecule structures of the 5 primary nucleobases:

The 5 Primary Nucleobases
The 5 Primary Nucleobases

There are also non-primary nucleobases. For example, Hypoxanthine (I), C5H4N, is a modified Adenine (A). And Xanthine (X) is a modified Guanine (G).

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 Introduction of Molecules

 Molecule Names and Identifications

 Molecule Mass and Weight

 Protein and Amino Acid

Nucleobase, Nucleoside, Nucleotide, DNA and RNA

What Is Nucleobase

 What Is Nucleoside

 What Is Nucleotide

 What Is Nucleic Acid

 What Is RNA (Ribonucleic Acid)

 What Is DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid)

 RNA Primary Structure - Helix

 DNA Primary Structure - Double Helix

 What Is DNA/RNA Base and Sequence Pair

 What Is Chromosome

 Gene and Chromosome

 Protein Kinase (PK)

 DNA Sequencing

 Gene Mutation

 SDF (Structure Data File)

 PyMol Installation

 PyMol GUI and CLI

 PyMol Selections

 PyMol Editing Functions

 PyMol Measurement Functions

 PyMol Movie Functions

 PyMol Python Integration

 PyMol Object Functions

 ChEMBL Database - European Molecular Biology Laboratory

 PubChem Database - National Library of Medicine

 PDB (Protein Data Bank)

 INSDC (International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration)

 HGNC (HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee)

 Relocated Tutorials

 Resources and Tools

 Molecule Related Terminologies

 References

 Full Version in PDF/EPUB