base pair

DNA's bonded letters

A base pair is one of the paired chemical units that form the rungs of the DNA double helix—adenine bonding with thymine, guanine with cytosine.

The term also serves as a unit of measurement for genetic material: The human genome contains about three billion base pairs.

Often abbreviated bp.

molecular

nucleotide

Genetic code subunit

adeninePurine nucleobase in DNA
thymineDNA nitrogen base
guaninePurine nucleobase in DNA

cytosine · purine · pyrimidine · hydrogen bond · Watson-Crick · complementary · antiparallel · nucleic acid · biochemistry · angstrom

structure

double helix

Two intertwined spirals

spiralCurve winding around center
twistRotating motion or surprise
coilWound circular arrangement

conformation · backbone · strand · ladder · rungs · three-dimensional

genetic

DNA

Hereditary code molecule

RNAGene expression molecule
chromosomeDNA strand carrying genes
genomeOrganism's total hereditary material

replication · transcription · sequencing · mutation · genomics · polymerase · template · genetic code · heredity · allele

Categories

geneticsDNA, allele, genotype, genes, gene
DNA AnalysisDNA, DNA profiling, DNA testing, DNA sequencing, DNA fingerprinting
GenomicsDNA sequencing, genome sequencing, sequencing, genome, DNA
RNA/DNA Structuredouble helix, hairpin, stem, bulge, helix
generations & geneticsGen X, Gen Z, millennials, boomers, Gen Alpha
basessodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, lye, caustic soda, magnesium hydroxide

Opposites

structural unit scale

base pairgenome

Organism's total hereditary material

chromosome · gene · kilobase · codon · exon

pairing vs. unpairing

base pairmismatch

Incompatible combination

single-stranded · mispairing · bulge · deletion · mutation

unit vs. sequence

base pairgenetic code

Codon-to-amino-acid mapping rules

reading frame · open reading frame

Family

base, pair, repaired, paired, bases, pairing, unpaired, repairer, base pairs

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