Cytosine Deoxyribose

Cytosine was isolated from hydrolysis of calf thymus in 1894 and by 1903 its structure was known and it had been synthesized from 2-ethylthiopyrimidin-4(3H)-one. The acid hydrolysis of ribonucleic acid gives nucleotides, among which are two cytidylic acids, 2 -and 3 -phosphates of cytidine further hydrolysis gives cytidine itself, i.e. the 1-/3-D-ribofuranoside of cytosine, and thence cytosine. The deoxyribonucleic acids likewise yield deoxyribonucleotides, including cytosine deoxyribose-5 -phosphate, from which the phosphate may be removed to give cytosine deoxyriboside and thence cytosine. 

Any one nucleotide, the basic building block of a nucleic acid, is derived from a molecule of phosphoric acid, a molecule of a sugar (either deoxyribose or ribose), and a molecule of one of five nitrogen compounds (bases) cytosine (C), thymine (T), adenine (A), guanine (G), uracil (U). 

The primary stmcture of DNA is based on repeating nucleotide units, where each nucleotide is made up of the sugar, ie, 2 -deoxyribose, a phosphate, and a heterocycHc base, N. The most common DNA bases are the purines, adenine (A) and guanine (G), and the pyrimidines, thymine (T) and cytosine (C) (Fig. 1). The base, N, is bound at the I -position of the ribose unit through a heterocycHc nitrogen. 

The sugars are typically ribose (ribonucleic acids, RNA), or 2-deoxyribose (deoxyribonucleic acids, DNA). There are five common bases in nucleic acids adenine (A) thymine (T) uracil (U) cytosine (C) and guanine (G). DNA polymers incorporate the four bases. A, T, C, and G, and RNA, the set A, U, C, and G. 

As is well-known, nucleic acids consist of a polymeric chain of monotonously reiterating molecules of phosphoric acid and a sugar. In ribonucleic acid, the sugar component is represented by n-ribose, in deoxyribonucleic acid by D-2-deoxyribose. To this chain pyrimidine and purine derivatives are bound at the sugar moieties, these derivatives being conventionally, even if inaccurately, termed as pyrimidine and purine bases. The bases in question are uracil (in ribonucleic acids) or thymine (in deoxyribonucleic acids), cytosine, adenine, guanine, in some cases 5-methylcytosine and 5-hydroxymethylcyto-sine. In addition to these, a number of the so-called odd bases occurring in small amounts in some ribonucleic acid fractions have been isolated. 

Attached by a covalent bond to carbon atom 1 of the deoxyribose ring is an amine (and therefore a base), which may be adenine, A (22) guanine, G (23) cytosine, C (24) or thymine, T (25). In RNA, uracil, U (26), replaces thymine. The base bonds to carbon atom 1 of deoxyribose through the nitrogen of the —NH— group (printed in red) and the compound so formed is called a nucleoside. All nucleosides have a similar structure, which we can summarize as the shape shown in (27) the lens-shaped object represents the attached amine. 

Adenine (A) Cytosine (C) Guanine (G) Thymine (T) Adenine (A) Cytosine (C) Guanine (G) Uracil (U) Deoxyribose Ribose Phosphate groups... 

An analogous series of reactions is used to produce depyrimidinated DNA fragments. Hydrazine is used in these reactions, since both cytosine and thymine react with hydrazine. The bases are cleaved to yield urea and a pyrazole ring. The deoxyribose moiety is left as a hydrazone. Piperidine, which reacts with the hydrazone, is used to cleave the nucleotide chain. Cytosines react specifically with hydrazine in 5 mol/ L NaCl, but no specific reaction exists for thymines. Consequently, one aliquot yields labeled oligonu-cleotides 3 -terminated at cytosines, whereas a second aliquot contains nucleotides cleaved in the absence of NaCI at both cytosine and thymine residues. 

Deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) Comprises a backbone with four nucleotide bases, adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine, bound to it. The genetic information in all cells is encoded in this genome of double-stranded DNA, comprising 3 billion base pairs located in the chromosomes. 

Nucleotide A subunit of DNA or RNA consisting of a purine (adenine and guanine) or a pyrimidine base [thymine (DNA only), uracil (RNA only) and cytosine], a phosphate molecule, and a sugar molecule (deoxyribose in DNA and ribose in RNA). 

In DNA, there are four bases adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. The sugar is 2 -deoxyribose. 

The bases are either monocyclic pyrimidines or bicyclic purines (see Section 14.1). Three pyrimidine bases are encountered in DNA and RNA, cytosine (C), thymine (T) and uracil (U). Cytosine is common to both DNA and RNA, but uracil is found only in RNA and thymine is found only in DNA. In the nucleic acid, the bases are linked through an A-glycoside bond to a sugar, either ribose or deoxyribose the combination base plus sugar is termed a nucleoside. The nitrogen bonded to the sugar is that shown. 

Figure 1 Free radical structures, parent compounds, and stable end products for the various components of DNA (a) deoxyribose, (b) guanine, (c) adenine, (d) thymine, and (e) cytosine. Panel (f) shows trapping of the electron and hole by proton transfer in the GC base pair in duplex DNA.

Nucleic Acid. A nucleic acid is a natural polynucleotide. It is a sugar-phosphate chain with purine and pyrimidine bases attached to it, as shown in Chart 10. If the sugar is deoxyribose and the pyrimidine bases are cytosine and thymine, the nucleic acid is deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA if the sugar is ribose, and the pyrimidine bases are (mostly) cytosine and uracil, the nucleic acid is ribonucleic acid, RNA. The sequence of bases may appear arbitrary and random, but it constitutes a meaningful code (see Code Word). In double-stranded nucleic acids,... 

In DNA the sugar molecule in the nucleotide is 2-deoxyribose, and in RNA it is ribose. The amine bases in DNA are adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine, symbolized by A, T, C, and G, respectively. RNA contains adenine, cytosine, and guanine, but thymine is replaced by the based uracil (Figure 16.16). The primary structure of nucleic acids is given by the sequence of the amine side chains starting from the phosphate end of the nucleotide. For example, a DNA sequence may be -T-A-A-G-C-T. 

Nucleic acids are polymeric nucleotides in which phosphate esters link ribose or deoxyribose molecules through the C OH of one and the C OH of the other. In rna, the aglycone nitrogen bases are cytosine, adenine, guanine, and uracil. In dna, thymine replaces uracil. The rna polymer is like that of dna, except that a CH, replaces the OH group on C of the ribose ring. 

Cytosine, thymine, and uracil are pyrimidines along with adenine and guanine they account for the five nucleic acid bases. Pyrimidines are heterocyclic single-ringed compounds based on the structure of pyrimidine. Cytosine, thymine, and uracil, like adenine and guanine, form nucleosides and nucleotides in RNA and DNA. When the bases combine with ribose, a ribo-nucleoside forms and when it attaches to deoxyribose, a deoxyribosenucleoside is formed. Names of the nucleoside are summarized in Table 29.1. These in turn combine with phospho-ryl groups, in a process called phosphorylation, to form their respective nucleotides that form nucleic acids. The nucleotides can be tri, di, and mono phosphate nucleotides similar to the way in which adenine forms ATP, ADP, and AMP. 

There are two types of nucleic acid RNA and DNA The nucleotides in RNA contain ribose, and the common pyrimidine bases are uracil and cytosine. In DNA, the nucleotides contain 2 -deoxyribose, and the common pyrimidine bases are thymine and cytosine. The primary purines are adenine and guanine in both RNA and DNA... 

Removal of abnormal bases Abnormal bases, such as uracil, which can occur in DNA either by deamination of cytosine or improper incorporation of dUTP instead of dTTP during DNA synthesis, are recognized by specific glycosylases that hydrolytically cleave them from the deoxyribose-phosphate backbone of the strand. This leaves an apyrimidinic site (or apurinic, if a purine was removed), referred to as an AP-site. 

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