Base pair hydrogen-bonding

The nucleic acids known as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) are the molecules that store genetic information. This information is carried as a sequence of bases in the polymeric molecule. Remarkably, the interpretation of this sequence depends upon simple hydrogen bonding interactions between base pairs. Hydrogen bonding is fundamental to the double helix arrangement of the DNA molecule, and the translation and transcription via ribonucleic acid (RNA) of the genetic information present in the DNA molecule. 

Fig. 4. The DNA base pairs. Hydrogen bonds are shown as dashed lines. dR, deoxyribose.

RNA and DNA are held together by the conventional Watson-Crick base pairing hydrogen bonding rules. There is no covalent bond. 

Antiparallel strands of DNA. DNA usually consists of two complementary strands, with all the base pairs hydrogen bonded together. The two strands are antiparallel, running in opposite directions. (In these drawings of DNA, ribose means /3-D-2-deoxyribofuranoside.)... 

Base-pair hydrogen bonding of the Watson-Crick type is fundamental in all biological processes where nucleic acids are involved. These processes, which are chiefly DNA replication and protein biosynthesis [650, 651], were understood only at the molecular level when Watson and Crick discovered the three-dimensional structure of DNA [27, 527J. This structure consists of two polynucleotide chains running in opposite directions (antiparallel), and twisted into a right-handed double helix. The hydrophobic purine and pyrimidine bases are stacked in the center... 

Complementarity Isomorphous Base Pairs Hydrogen-bond Recognition and Stability Hybridization... 

Analog lacking the ability to form base-pairing hydrogen bonds... 

Fellers RS, Barsky D, Gygi F, Colvin M. An ab initio study of DNA base pair hydrogen bonding a comparison of plane-wave versus Gaussian-type function methods. Chem Phys Lett 1999 312 548-555. 

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