ABSTRACT
Among the different types of molecules in cells, DNA has a structure that makes it ideal to code the blueprint of life. The building blocks of DNA are nucleotides, which are made up of three chemical groups: a five-carbon sugar (deoxyribose), phosphate, and one of four nucleobases. The spatial structure of DNA is a double helix comprising two strands. The backbone of each strand is made of the sugar moiety and phosphate, which are invariably connected in an alternating fashion and therefore do not carry genetic information. The “rungs” that connect the two strands are composed of nucleobases, which are where the information is stored. Since the discovery of this structure in 1953 by Watson and Crick, the elegance and simplicity of this structure has fascinated generations of biologists, chemists, and scientists from other fields.
