Related topics: cells · protein · dna · genetic material · dna sequences

How trustworthy is your dog's DNA test?

Lila is a registered purebred beagle, but depending on what company does her DNA testing, she might be part rottweiler, part American foxhound, or not a beagle at all.

Tracing the spread of cacao domestication

The cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), whose beans (cocoa) are used to make products including chocolate, liquor and cocoa butter, may have spread from the Amazon basin to the other regions of South and Central America at least ...

Modeling the origins of life: New evidence for an 'RNA World'

Charles Darwin described evolution as "descent with modification." Genetic information in the form of DNA sequences is copied and passed down from one generation to the next. But this process must also be somewhat flexible, ...

New tool helps decipher gene behavior

Scientists have extensively researched the structure and sequence of genetic material and its interactions with proteins in the hope of understanding how our genetics and environment interact with diseases. This research ...

Scientists discover 'jumping genes' determine cabbage's exterior

The genetic differences between pointed cabbage and cauliflower are greater than those between humans and chimpanzees. Nevertheless, they are considered the same species. Researchers from Wageningen and China mapped the extensive ...

New insights in the regulation of genetic information exchange

Within every cell in our body, our DNA is tightly bundled with proteins to form structures known as chromosomes. The commonly known shape of a chromosome relates to an X-shaped appearance in many organisms. The formation ...

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DNA sequence

A DNA sequence or genetic sequence is a succession of letters representing the primary structure of a real or hypothetical DNA molecule or strand, with the capacity to carry information as described by the central dogma of molecular biology.

The possible letters are A, C, G, and T, representing the four nucleotide bases of a DNA strand — adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine — covalently linked to a phosphodiester backbone. In the typical case, the sequences are printed abutting one another without gaps, as in the sequence AAAGTCTGAC, read left to right in the 5' to 3' direction. Short sequences of nucleotides are referred to as oligonucleotides and are used in a range of laboratory applications in molecular biology. With regard to biological function, a DNA sequence may be considered sense or antisense, and either coding or noncoding. DNA sequences can also contain "junk DNA."

Sequences can be derived from the biological raw material through a process called DNA sequencing.

In some special cases, letters besides A, T, C, and G are present in a sequence. These letters represent ambiguity. Of all the molecules sampled, there is more than one kind of nucleotide at that position. The rules of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) are as follows:

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