guanine

[ gwah-neen ]

noun

, Biochemistry.

1. a purine base, C 5 H 5 N 5 O, that is a fundamental constituent of DNA and RNA, in which it forms base pairs with cytosine. : G

guanine

/ ˈɡuːəˌniːn; ˈɡwɑːniːn /

noun

1. a white almost insoluble compound: one of the purine bases in nucleic acids. Formula: C 5 H 5 N 5 O

guanine

/ gwä′nēn′ /

1. A purine base that is a component of DNA and RNA, forming a base pair with cytosine. It also occurs in guano, fish scales, sugar beets, and other natural materials. Chemical formula: C 5 H 5 ON 5 .

Word History and Origins

Origin of guanine¹

guan(o) + -ine ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of guanine¹

C19: from guano + -ine ²

Example Sentences

Nucleotides are composed of three distinctive parts: a sugar molecule, a phosphate group and one of the four nucleobases adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine.

From Science Daily

Huntington’s is a hereditary neurodegenerative disease caused by excess repetitions of three building blocks of DNA — cytosine, adenine, and guanine — on a gene called huntingtin.

From New York Times

Rather than inducing random changes in the virus’ RNA genome, the drug is more likely to cause specific nucleic acid substitutions, with guanine switching to adenine and cytosine to uracil.

From Science Magazine

Their theoretical model incorporated the quantum effects that allow a proton, bound to the base cytosine on one strand, to spontaneously “tunnel” and hook up to the guanine base on the other.

From Scientific American

There are different potential ways to store this information in DNA - for example, a zero in binary code could be represented by the bases adenine or cytosine and the one represented by guanine or thymine.

From BBC