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Biochemistry & Polymer Chemistry

DNA

The double-stranded nucleic acid that carries the hereditary information of almost all living organisms.

Unit Dimensionless

In depth

Deoxyribonucleic acid uses deoxyribose and the bases adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine. Two antiparallel strands wind into a double helix with the bases paired inside, an arrangement that both protects the information and provides an obvious copying mechanism.

Examples in the real world

The human genome of 3.2 billion base pairs; DNA profiling in forensic identification.