• Question: what does DNA stand for?

    Asked by xX_samafamalama_Xx to Chris, Josh, Rebecca, Rob, Susan on 22 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Josh Meyers

      Josh Meyers answered on 22 Jun 2015:

      Deoxyribonucleic acid.

      A ribose is a chemical ring system which is a scaffold for DNA to be build upon.

      In DNA the ribose is deoxygenated (in RNA it isn’t!)

      And the nucleic acid is the name for the entire molecule.

    • Photo: Rebecca Dewey

      Rebecca Dewey answered on 22 Jun 2015:

      DNA stands for Deoxyribo-Nuclaic Acid (pronounced “dee-oxy-rye-bow new-clay-ic acid”). So DNA is a type of nucleic acid; nucleic acids form the three major macromolecules (very very big molecules) essential for all known forms of life.
      Each segment of the DNA molecule contains a ribose sugar, and each carbon atom within the sugar has a base attached to it: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), or uracil (U).
      Most DNA molecules consist of two strands coiled around each other to form a double helix. The two DNA strands are known as polynucleotides because they are made up of simpler units called nucleotides.

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