Phosphodiester backbone
Definition
The repeating sugar-phosphate chain that forms the structural scaffold of each DNA strand. The backbone is highly charged and hydrophilic, faces outward from the helix, and gives DNA its characteristic negative charge at physiological pH, which is exploited in gel electrophoresis.
Related terms
- Antiparallel orientation
- The two strands of the DNA double helix run in opposite directions: one strand reads 5' to 3', its complement reads 3'...
- Base complementarity
- The specific pairing rules that govern double-stranded DNA: adenine pairs with thymine (2 hydrogen bonds) and guanine pairs with cytosine (3 hydrogen...
- Denaturation
- The separation of double-stranded DNA into two single strands by disrupting the hydrogen bonds between base pairs. In PCR, denaturation is achieved...
- Deoxyribonucleotide
- The monomer unit of DNA, consisting of a deoxyribose sugar, a phosphate group, and one of four nitrogenous bases (adenine, thymine, guanine,...
- GC content
- The proportion of base pairs in a DNA molecule that are guanine-cytosine. Because G-C pairs form three hydrogen bonds (versus two for...
Explained in
- The DNA Double Helix and Base PairingThe repeating sugar-phosphate chain that forms the structural scaffold of each DNA strand. The backbone is highly charged and hydrophilic, faces outward from t...