Adenine
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
Adenine is a chemical component of DNA and RNA.
It forms several tautomers, compounds that can be rapidly interconverted and are often considered equivalent.
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[change] Function
In DNA, adenine binds to thymine via two hydrogen bonds to assist in stabilizing the nucleic acid structures. In RNA, which is used in the cytoplasm for protein synthesis, adenine binds to uracil.
[change] History
In older literature, adenine was sometimes called Vitamin B4[1]. It is no longer considered a true vitamin nor part of the Vitamin B complex. However, two B vitamins, niacin and riboflavin, bind with adenine to form the essential cofactors NAD and FAD respectively.
Some think that, at the origin of life on Earth, the first adenine was formed by the polymerization of five hydrogen cyanide (HCN) molecules. However, this has been criticized by some chemists.[2]
[change] Other websites
[change] References
- ↑ Vera Reader (1930). "The assay of vitamin B4". Biochem J. 24 (6): 1827–31..
- ↑ Shapiro, Robert (June, 1995). "The prebiotic role of adenine: A critical analysis". Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres 25: 83-98. DOI:10.1007/BF01581575.
