Nucleobase facts for kids

Base pairing: Two base pairs are produced by four nucleotide monomers, nucleobases are in blue. Guanine (G) is paired with cytosine (C) via three covalent hydrogen bonds, in red. Adenine (A) is paired with uracil (U) via two covalent hydrogen bonds, in red.

Nucleobases are important for genetics. They are parts of RNA and DNA that may be involved in pairing (see base pair).

They include cytosine, guanine, adenine, thymine in (DNA), uracil in (RNA) and xanthine and hypoxanthine (mutated forms of guanine and adenine). These are abbreviated as C, G, A, T, U, X and HX respectively. They are usually simply called bases in genetics. Because A, G, C and T appear in the DNA, these molecules are called DNA-bases; A, G, C and U are called RNA-bases.

Uracil replaces thymine in RNA.

See also

In Spanish: Nucleobase para niños