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AAT Bioquest

What is DNA made of?

Posted June 12, 2023


Answer

DNA is made of chemical building blocks called nucleotides. These nucleotides are linked like chains with alternating phosphate and sugar groups to form a strand of DNA. 

Each nucleotide is composed of a nitrogen base, a phosphate group, and a sugar group. There are four possible nitrogen bases present in DNA - Adenine (A), Thymine (T), Guanine (G) and Cytosine (C). The sequence, or order, of these nitrogen bases determines the biological instructions that are enclosed in a DNA strand.  

Additional resources

Dielectric and dielectrophoretic properties of DNA

DNA and RNA Quantitation

Helixyte™ Green Fluorimetric dsDNA Quantitation Kit *Optimized for Broad Dynamic Range*